SURFACE ALFVEN WAVES OF NEGATIVE-ENERGY

The stability of an MHD tangential discontinuity is studied in an inco mpressible plasma where viscosity is taken into account at one side of the discontinuity. When the shear velocity is smaller than the thresh old value for the onset of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability, two surface waves can propagate along: the discontinuity. There is a criti cal value for the shear velocity, which is smaller than the threshold value for the onset of the KH instability. When the shear velocity is smaller than the critical value, the two surface waves propagate in op posite directions. When the shear velocity is larger than the critical velocity, the two waves propagate in the same direction, and the wave with smaller phase velocity is a negative-energy wave. Viscosity caus es this negative-energy wave to be unstable, and the instability incre ment is proportional to the viscosity coefficient.