Effect of Compressibility on Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in a Plasma

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Abstract
The problem of stability of the most general type of Kelvin‐Helmholtz discontinuity in a compressible plasma has been formulated. It is found that unlike surface tension, gravity and magnetic field, compressibility can have either stabilizing or destabilizing effect, depending on the stationary state of motion. In general, this may lead to two domains of stability, in contrast to only one that exists in the case of incompressible plasma. Compressibility will have a stabilizing or destabilizing effect, if the streaming speed is sufficiently larger or smaller, respectively, than the magnetoacoustic speed.

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