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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Whistler instability in an electron-magnetohydrodynamic spheromak
R L Stenzel1, J M Urrutia, K D Strohmaier
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA.
Abstract:
A three-dimensional magnetic vortex, propagating in the whistler mode, has been produced in a laboratory plasma. Its magnetic energy is converted into electron kinetic energy. Non-Maxwellian electron distributions are formed which give rise to kinetic whistler instabilities. The propagating vortex radiates whistler modes along the ambient magnetic field. A new instability mechanism is proposed.
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