THE GROWTH OF ALFVEN WAVES IN THE RESISTIVE CURRENT-DRIVEN INSTABILITY

On the basis of a two-fluid, cold-plasma, linear stability calculation with linear friction between electrons and ions, the growth rate of A lfven waves is derived from the dispersion relation for a uniformly ma gnetized plasma, in which the plasma resistivity and a uniform electri c current carried by an electron beam are both considered, The growth rate is directly proportional to the plasma resistivity, the electric current density and the value of the parameter omega(pe) /Omega(e) (wh ere omega(pe) and Omega(e) are the electron plasma and cyclotron frequ ency respectively). Moreover, the growth of Alfven waves is mainly exc ited in a direction nearly parallel to the ambient magnetic field, The critical value of the velocity of the electron fluid is just equal to the Alfven velocity. The results of this paper are compared with thos e for the linear tearing mode.