Absolute stability of axisymmetric perturbations in strongly-magnetized collisionless axisymmetric accretion disk plasmas

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that strongly-magnetized, collisionless axisymmetric accretion disk plasmas are stable against axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations, ruling out certain instabilities and contributing to understanding plasma stability in astrophysical accretion disks.

Contribution

It provides a kinetic stability analysis showing the absence of axisymmetric instabilities in non-relativistic, strongly-magnetized collisionless accretion disk plasmas.

Findings

No axisymmetric unstable perturbations exist on long time and space scales.

Stationary kinetic solutions imply stability against axisymmetric kinetic instabilities.

Magneto-rotational and thermal instabilities are ruled out in these systems.

Abstract

The physical mechanism responsible for driving accretion flows in astrophysical accretion disks is commonly thought to be related to the development of plasma instabilities and turbulence. A key question is therefore the determination of consistent equilibrium configurations for accretion-disk plasmas and investigation of their stability properties. In the case of collisionless plasmas kinetic theory provides the appropriate theoretical framework. This paper presents a kinetic description of low-frequency and long-wavelength axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations in non-relativistic, strongly-magnetized and gravitationally-bound axisymmetric accretion-disk plasmas in the collisionless regime. The analysis, carried out within the framework of the Vlasov-Maxwell description, relies on stationary kinetic solutions of the Vlasov equation which allow for the simultaneous treatment of non-uniform fluid fields, stationary accretion flows and temperature anisotropies. It is demonstrated that, for such solutions, no axisymmetric unstable perturbations can exist occurring on characteristic time and space scales which are long compared with the Larmor gyration time and radius. Hence, these stationary configurations are actually stable against axisymmetric kinetic instabilities of this type. As a fundamental consequence, this rules out the possibility of having the axisymmetric magneto-rotational or thermal instabilities to arise in these systems.