Temperature anisotropy instabilities in a plasma containing cold and hot species in the magnetosphere

Abstract

The nature of convective instability has been investigated for an electromagnetic wave, either right circularly polarised or left circularly polarised, propagating along a magnetic line of force in a plasma whose distribution function exhibits a temperature anisotropy in the hot species, a loss cone structure and a beam of cold electrons or ions travelling along the line of force with velocity V 1. Detailed numerical calculations have been made using a computer for the growth and decay of the wave for different values of the anisotropy ratio T ⊥/ T ∥ = δ of the perpendicular and parallel temperatures, the McIlwain parameter L, the loss cone index j, velocity V 1 of the streaming particle and the particle density ratio ε. The ranges of values of ε and δ for which the wave becomes unstable have been studied in detail. It is found that wave propagation shows no dependence on the loss cone index but shows very strong dependence on the temperature anisotropy δ.