- Multi-fluid simulations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a weakly ionised plasma

Multi-fluid simulations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a weakly ionised plasma

PhD Student: Aoife JONES.

To see Aoife's Poster, presented at the first SCI-SYM meeting, January 2009, please follow the link: Aoife Jones and coworkers POSTER 09. 

The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability plays an important role in the dynamical evolution of astrophysical plasma flows. Many studies, both analytical and numerical, have examined this effect. However, most numerical simulations have been carried out only for the case of a one-fluid plasma. The simulations carried out in this work examine the behaviour of a threefluid plasma consisting of electrons, ions and neutrals. The work can then be applied to protostellar jets. Preliminary results have been obtained of 2D simulations, examining the following three cases:

- Ideal MHD

- Multifluid MHD dominated by ambipolar resistivity

- Multifluid MHD dominated by Hall resistivity