The Excitation of Ion-acoustic Waves by a Magnetic Pump in Cylindrical Geometry

Abstract

The modulational, parametric and purely 8rowing mode instabilities of a magnetic pump with a finite radial wavenumber in cylindrical geometry are investigated. The modulational instability is compared with the instability of a parallel propagating pump wave, and the growth rates are found to be similar. The growth rate of a pair of ion-acoustic waves is shown to be zero for a collisionless plasma, in agreement with less general results found previously. The growth rate in the collisional case is found to be nonzero. The purely growing mode growth rate is calculated for excitation of ionacoustic plus torsional Alfven waves.