Dispersion equation for ballooning modes in two-component plasma

The ballooning magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes have been often suggested as a possible instability trigger of the substorm onset, and a mechanism of compressional waves in the outer magnetosphere and magnetotail. Commonly, these disturbances are characterized by the local dispersion equation that is widely applied for the description of ultra-low-frequency oscillatory disturbances and instabilities in the nightside magnetosphere. In realistic situations, especially in the inner magnetosphere, the magnetospheric plasma is composed of two components: background ‘cold’ plasma and ‘hot’ particles. The ballooning disturbances in a two-component plasma immersed into a curved magnetic field are described with the system of coupled equations for the Alfvén and slow magnetosonic (SMS) modes. We have reduced the basic system of MHD equations to the dispersion equation for the small-scale in transverse direction disturbances, and applied WKB approximation along a field line. As a result, we have derived a dispersion equation that can be used for geophysical applications. In particular, from this relationship the dispersion, instability threshold, and stop-bands of the Alfvén and SMS modes in two-component plasma have been examined.