Related papers: On the Linear Stability of Weakly-Ionized, Magneti…
The effects of ambipolar diffusion on the linear stability of weakly ionised accretion discs are examined. Earlier work on this topic has focused on axial magnetic fields and perturbation wavenumbers. We consider here more general field and…
Macroscopic gas motions are widespread throughout the solar atmosphere and shearing motions couple to the non--ideal effects, destabilising low frequency fluctuations in the medium. The origin of this non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic…
We present a linear analysis of the vertical structure and growth of the magnetorotational instability in stratified, weakly ionised accretion discs, such as protostellar and quiescent dwarf novae systems. The method includes the effects of…
We present a study of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a weakly ionised, multifluid MHD plasma with parameters matching those of a typical molecular cloud. The instability is capable of transforming well-ordered flows into disordered…
The effect of magnetic field diffusion on the stability of accretion disks is a problem that has attracted considerable interest of late. In particular, the Hall effect has the potential to bring about remarkable changes in the dynamical…
We study the linear stability of weakly magnetized differentially rotating plasmas in both collisionless kinetic theory and Braginskii's theory of collisional, magnetized plasmas. We focus on the very weakly magnetized limit that is…
Identifying the mechanisms responsible for angular momentum transport in protoplanetary disks, and the extent to which those mechanisms produce turbulence, is a crucial problem in understanding planet formation. The bulk of the gas in…
We discuss the possibility that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances with characteristic scales much smaller than the vertical scale height. The instability is studied using three methods:…
The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is well known to be capable of converting well-ordered flows into more disordered, even turbulent, flows. As such it could represent a path by which the energy in, for example, bowshocks from stellar jets…
The large-scale dynamics of plasmas is well described within the framework of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). However, whenever the ion density of the plasma becomes sufficiently low, the Hall effect is likely to become important. The role of…
We consider the linear stability of shear banded planar Couette flow of the Johnson-Segalman fluid, with and without the addition of stress diffusion to regularise the equations. In particular, we investigate the effect of two-dimensional…
The Vertical Shear Instability is an axisymmetric effect suggested to drive turbulence in the magnetically inactive zones of protoplanetary accretion disks. Here we examine its physical mechanism in analytically tractable ``minimal models"…
Within the framework of shallow-water magnetohydrodynamics, we investigate the linear instability of horizontal shear flows, influenced by an aligned magnetic field and stratification. Various classical instability results, such as…
Space and astrophysical plasmas are frequently found in the regime of differential rotation, where the presence of a magnetic field can result in the magnetorotational instability, directly responsible for important phenomena such as…
The destabilising effect of Hall diffusion in a Keplerian disc allows the MRI to occur for much lower ionisation levels than would otherwise be possible. However, simulations suggest that the consequences for the saturated state are not as…
Rotational mixing, the key process in stellar evolution, transports angular momentum and chemical elements in stellar radiative zones. In the past two decades, an emphasis has been placed on the turbulent transport induced by the vertical…
We describe the effects of both magnetic buoyancy and differential rotation on a disc of isothermal gas embedded in a purely azimuthal magnetic field, in order to study the evolution and interplay of Parker and shearing instabilities. Both…
The Herschel Gould Belt Survey showed that stars form in dense filaments in nearby molecular clouds. Recent studies suggest that massive filaments are bound by the slow shocks caused by accretion flows onto the filaments. The slow shock is…
Astrophysical fluids under the influence of magnetic fields are often subjected to single-fluid or two-fluid approximations. In the case of weakly ionized plasmas however, this can be inappropriate due to distinct responses from the…
Origin of hydrodynamical instability and turbulence in the Keplerian accretion disc as well as similar laboratory shear flows, e.g. plane Couette flow, is a long standing puzzle. These flows are linearly stable. Here we explore the…