Glossary of Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Research
Search Submit an EntryBrowse Entries: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
See also the Plasma Dictionary.
Browse Entries: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
See also the Plasma Dictionary.
 Propose
Change in Definition |
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| Term: | Instability | |
| Definition: | A state of a plasma (or any other physical system) in which a small perturbation amplifies itself to a considerable alteration of the state of the system. In plasmas instabilities sometimes leads to disruptions (see entry). Most instabilities are associated with waves and other natural modes of oscillation in the plasma, which can sometimes grow. There are (unfortunately!) many kinds. See also - absolute instability, backscatter instability, ballooning instability, bar-forming instability, beam instability, Brillouin instability, cross-field instability, current-driven instability, drift instability, external/free boundary instability, external-kink instability, fishbone instability, flute instability, hydrodynamic instability, ideal MHD instability, interchange instability, internal/fixed boundary instability, internal kink instability, ion ring instability, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, kink instability, Kruskal-Schwarzchild instability, Langmuir beam instability, Loss cone instability, MHD instability, macroinstability, microinstability, modified two-stream instability, modulational instability, oscillating two-stream instability, parametric instability, pressure driven instability, Raman instability, Rayleigh-Taylor instability, resistive instability, sausage instability, streaming instability, thermal instability, trapped particle instability, two-plasmon instability, two-stream instability, universal instability, and velocity-space instability. |
| Contributor: | Submitted: | 11/2/1999 | ||
| Email: | Modified: | 11/2/1999 |