The momentum-space diffusion equation and the kinetic wave equation for resonant wave–wave scattering of electromagnetic and electrostatic waves in a relativistic magnetized plasma are derived from the relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell equations by perturbation theory. The p-dependent diffusion coefficient and the nonlinear wave—wave coupling coefficient are given in terms of third-order tensors which are amenable to analysis. The transport equations describing energy and momentum transfer between waves and particles are obtained by momentum-space integration of the momentum-space diffusion equation, and are expressed in terms of the nonlinear wave—wave coupling coefficient in the kinetic wave equation. The conservation laws for the total energy and momentum densities of waves and particles are verified from the kinetic wave equation and the transport equations. These equations are very useful for the theoretical analysis of transport phenomena or the acceleration and generation of high-energy or relativistic particles caused by quasi-linear and resonant wave—wave scattering processes.

The nonlinear propagation of a superluminal, linearly polarized electromagnetic wave in the presence of a relativistic cold electron beam is investigated. At large amplitudes the wave couples to the electron-beam plasma mode owing to two important nonlinear effects, namely the relativistic variation of the electron mass and the excitation of longitudinal space charge fields by strong v × B forces. The nonlinear propagation equations for the coupled electromagnetic and longitudinal waves are derived within the context of a relativistic cold-fluid model. Nonlinear travelling-wave solutions are sought to describe the saturated state of the coupled system. Using Hamiltonian techniques, a wide variety of solutions are obtained and their characteristics discussed.

We extend previous work by Buti to include the effect of ion temperature and investigate how the instability range is modified in the simultaneous presence of collisions and ion temperature. A salient feature of the calculations is that waves that were stable in the collisionless case for certain values of the wavenumber k now become unstable.

The propagation of ion acoustic waves in an inhomogeneous plasma is studied in the presence of finite ion temperature. The standard nonlinear Schrödinger equation is obtained, and the regions of instability are plotted. It is claimed that these extraneous factors tend to lower the value of the critical wavenumber.

We study the quasimode decay of a lower-hybrid wave and a damped ion cyclotron wave in a plasma having two kinds of electrons. This decay channel is also investigated for a cylindrical plasma. The behaviour of the threshold and growth rate with variations in Tn/Tc and non/noc are studied, and a comparison is made with previous results. Our results show that the growth rate and the threshold for the onset of parametric decay are influenced by the presence of the second electron species.

The stability of a finite-amplitude standing Alfvén wave of circular polarization in a low-β plasma is studied using a set of nonlinearly coupled MHD wave equations. In the presence of a standing Alfvén pump, two distinct gratings associated with the density fluctuations are excited: those due to the ponderomotive beating of the pump magnetic field, and those due the induced magnetic fluctuations. The roles played by the two gratings in the mode coupling are analysed. Both convective and purely growing regimes of the MHD parametric instabilities can be produced by a standing Alfvén wave. In both regimes, the maximum growth rate increases as the pump amplitude increases, and decreases as increases. Tn the presence of the second grating, a new unstable convective regime appears that widens the overall instability bandwidth.

The tearing-mode instability of a magnetic-field-reversing current sheet in the presence of coplanar incompressible stagnation-point flow is examined. The unperturbed equilibrium state is an exact solution of the steady-state, dissipative, incompressible magnetohydrodynamic equations; thus the analysis is valid even for small viscous and resistive Lundquist numbers Sν and Sη. The instability problem has no known analytical solution; for this reason, it is studied numerically by use of a finite-element method. Simulation results indicate stability for sufficiently small values of Sν or Sη and instability for large values. The boundary separating stable and unstable regions in the (Sν, Sη) plane is located. In the unstable regime, the simulation results show formation and subsequent convection of magnetic islands along the current sheet at about 80% of the unperturbed outflow flow speed, on average. Stretching and pinching of convecting magnetic islands are also observed. The results show the occurrence of multiple X-line reconnection at the centre of the current sheet (x = 0). Small-scale structures of vorticity and current density near the X-point reconnection sites are found to be qualitatively consistent with results obtained by Matthaeus. Normalized global linear growth rates are found to obey the approximate power law, within the ranges 20 ≦ Sν ≦ 70 and 200 ≦ Sη 1000. At least for Sν ≦ 1000, the number of magnetic islands is found to be nearly independent of Sν indicating the existence of a narrow band of dominant wavelengths in this range. The stretching of magnetic islands, which is present in this coplanar flow and field configuration, but not in the perpendicular flow and field configuration examined by Phan and Sonnerup, causes a substantial decrease in linear growth rate relative to that obtained by those authors. The stability curves obtained are qualitatively similar in both analyses, but the stable region is much larger for coplanar flow and field. Unlike most simulations of the tearing mode, no symmetry conditions are imposed on the perturbations; nevertheless, they develop in a symmetric manner.

The stability of the MHD tangential discontinuity is studied in compressible plasmas in the presence of anisotropic viscosity and thermal conductivity. The general dispersion equation is derived, and solutions to this dispersion equation and stability criteria are obtained for the limiting cases of incompressible and cold plasmas. In these two limiting cases the effect of thermal conductivity vanishes, and the solutions are only influenced by viscosity. The stability criteria for viscous plasmas are compared with those for ideal plasmas, where stability is determined by the Kelvin—Helmholtz velocity VKH as a threshold for the difference in the equilibrium velocities. Viscosity turns out to have a destabilizing influence when the viscosity coefficient takes different values at the two sides of the discontinuity. Viscosity lowers the threshold velocity V below the ideal Kelvin—Helmholtz velocity VKH, so that there is a range of velocities between V and VKH where the overstability is of a dissipative nature.

Solutions of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck-Poisson system in a current-carrying plasma are analysed theoretically and numerically in the collisionless and weakly collisional approximations. The class of electron holes is extended, and new solitary electron hole and hump equilibria are found. Numerical solutions of the full time-dependent self-consistent problem are presented that show the non-existence of structural dissipative equilibria as long as ions are treated as an immobile background.

New dissipative structural equilibria of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck-Poisson system in a current-carrying plasma with mobile ions are presented. The dynamical evolution towards these final equilibrium states is explored. First consequences for the parallel transport are derived and it is shown that the anomalous resistivity depends on non-symmetric distortions of the electron distribution function in the thermal range which are affected by collisions and ion mobility. The fundamental role of electron holes as the underlying collisionless structure is emphasized.

Two approaches to defining almost-invariant surfaces for magnetic fields with imperfect magnetic surfaces are compared. Both methods are based on treating magnetic field-line flow as a 1½-dimensional Hamiltonian (or Lagrangian) dynamical system. In the quadratic-flux minimizing surface approach, the integral of the square of the action gradient over the toroidal and poloidal angles is minimized, while in the ghost surface approach a gradient flow between a minimax and an action-minimizing orbit is used. In both cases the almost-invariant surface is constructed as a family of periodic pseudo-orbits, and consequently it has a rational rotational transform. The construction of quadratic-flux minimizing surfaces is simple, and easily implemented using a new magnetic field-line tracing method. The construction of ghost surfaces requires the representation of a pseudo field line as an (in principle) infinite-dimensional vector and also is inherently slow for systems near integrability. As a test problem the magnetic field-line Hamiltonian is constructed analytically for a topologically toroidal, non-integrable ABC-flow model, and both types of almost-invariant surface are constructed numerically.