Drift vortices in inhomogeneous plasmas: Stationary states and stability criteria

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Abstract
This paper contains a theoretical treatment of the dynamical behavior of two‐dimensional nonlinear drift waves in plasmas. A simple model is investigated that allows gradients in temperature as well as in particle number density. The general class of stationary states can be specified and from the general description simplifed states can be (re)derived. A quite general method, resulting in general criteria, is proposed to study the dynamics of drift vortices under perturbations. The results are applied to several cases.