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Updated: May 6, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Rotating instability in low-temperature magnetized plasmas
Jean-Pierre Boeuf1, Bhaskar Chaudhury
1Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT; LAPLACE (Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Energie), 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France and CNRS, LAPLACE, F-31062 Toulouse, France.
Abstract:
The formation of a rotating instability associated with an ionization front ("rotating spoke") and driven by a cross-field current in a cylindrical magnetized plasma is shown and explained for the first time on the basis of a fully kinetic simulation. The rotating spoke is a strong double layer (electrostatic sheath) moving towards the higher potential region at a velocity close to the critical ionization velocity, a concept proposed by Alfvén in the context of the formation of the solar system. The mechanisms of cross-field electron transport induced by this instability are analyzed.
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