Kinetic instability of drift magnetosonic wave in anisotropic low beta plasmas

Abstract

The kinetic instability of the obliquely propagating drift magnetosonic wave for temperature anisotropic low beta plasmas is studied by using the gyro-kinetic model. The interplay between the temperature anisotropy and the density inhomogeneity free energy sources is discussed in order to provide stabilization of drift instability by the temperature anisotropy effect. It is shown that the anisotropy suppresses the growth rate when the anisotropy ratio Ae,i (=T⊥(e,i)/T∥(e,i)) is greater than unity, whereas it enhances the growth rate for Ae,i<1. Comparison of kinetic instability with reactive instability [Naim et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 102112 (2014)] and the scaling of growth time with the diffusion and the anisotropy relaxation times are presented. Additionally, the stability analysis applicable to a wide range of plasma parameters is also performed.