Drift field-swelling instability in anisotropic plasmas

The drift instabilities in one-component high pressure (β ∼ 1) plasma with the electron temperature exceeding the ion temperature, Te > Ti, and the anisotropic particle distribution, are studied theoretically. The existence of two new types of instability is shown. The MHD drift field-swelling instability is excited in plasma with Teperpendicular > Teparallel. The kinetic drift 'butterfly' instability having a small value of a threshold develops in plasma with Teparallel > Teperpendicular. The instabilities may play an important role in dynamics of both laboratory and space plasmas. (author)