Gravitational instability of a rotating viscous thermally conducting plasma

This paper deals with the gravitational instability of an infinite homogeneous viscous rotating plasma of finite electrical conductivity in the combined presence of effects of Hall currents, finite Larmor radius (FLR) and thermal conductivity. The ambient magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and acting along the vertical direction. Both longitudinal and transverse modes of wave propagation have been studied. It is shown that Jean's criterion determines the gravitational instability even in the presence of the effects of thermal conductivity, viscosity, finite electrical conductivity, FLR, rotation and hall currents. Further it is found that while FLR, viscosity and rotation have a stabilizing influence, both the thermal and the electrical conductivities have a destabilizing influence on the gravitational instability of a plasma. (author)