Instabilities in charge sheets and current sheets and their possible occurrence in the aurora

Abstract

An experimental demonstration has been given of the initiation of a vortex‐forming instability in sheets of charge by perturbations in the shape of the sheet. The net motion of charge along the sheet wherever the sheet is bent is shown to be related to displacement of the potential minimum in the sheet. These results suggest the existence of an instability in current sheets which also produces vortex forms. There is evidence that both of these instabilities result in the formation of vortexes in the aurora.