ABSTRACT
The study of instabilities in inhomogeneous force-free or almost force-free high–β plasmas (i.e., in those with vanishing or almost vanishing pressure gradients, ∇p ≈0, and with β ≫ 1) is of interest, in particular, in connection with the problem of hot-plasma confinement due to the pressure of a dense blanket of neutral gas. This problem was first discussed in [12.1] and then in [12.2–12.5] and in a number of other papers. As noted in [12.6], similar conditions can be realized in a laser-produced plasma. In [2.6, 12.6] it has been mentioned that the case where 𝛽 ≫ 1 and ∇p ≈ 0 is typical for many space situations, in particular, for certain solar wind regions.
