Stability of a Stratified Layer of a Gravitating Partially Ionized Plasma

The instability in a stratified layer of a self-gravitating partially ionized plasma has been studied in the presence of effects of Hall currents. For a plasma permeated by a uniform vertical magnetic field, the dispersion relation has been obtained through variational method. It is found that the Hall currents have a destabilizing effect while the neutral gas frictional effects have a stabilizing influence.