| Abstract: | The hydromagnetic instability of a self-gravitating, incompressible, finitely conducting, viscous plasma of varying density has been investigated. The ambient magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and vertical. It is first shown that a variational principle characterizes the problem. The proper solutions have then been obtained, by the variational methods, for a semi-infinite plasma contained between two horizontal free boundaries. The dispersion relation has been solved numerically It is found that the growth rate of the unstable mode increases with the magnetic resistivity and with the Hall-currents while it decreases with the increasing viscosity. The influence of the effects of magnetic resistivity as well as of Hall-currents is, consequently, destabilizing on the dynamic instability of a self-gravitating stratified plasma. Viscosity has, however, a stabilizing influence on the growth rate of the disturbance. |
