Effect of ion viscosity and thermal conductivity on the drift instability in an inhomogeneous high-pressure collisional plasma

Applying a magneto-hydrodynamic description of a plasma, the author carries out a theoretical study on the effect of ion viscosity and thermal conductivity on the drift instability in an inhomogeneous plasma with large β and kz ≠ 0 (β = 8π p/B2, kz is the component of the wave vector along the unperturbed magnetic field). It is shown that, if the particle collision frequency is low enough, ion viscosity and thermal conductivity may be the cause of instability.