The stability of the kinetic Alfven wave (KAW) has been studied in a plasma composed of electrons, hydrogen and positively and negatively charged oxygen ions. Using the two potential theory of Hasegawa, we have derived an expression for the frequency and growth/damping rate of the KAW. The dispersion relation derived in this paper is a generalization of the dispersion relation of Hasegawa on two counts: (i) we use a more generalized distribution function and show that our relation reduces to the dispersion relation of Hasegawa in the limiting case, and (ii) it is applicable to a multi-ion plasma containing lighter ions and positively and negatively charged heavier ions. We find the growth rate of the wave increases with increasing drift velocities of the electrons. Negatively charged oxygen ions (O -) decrease the growth rate; however, the growth rate is very sensitively dependent on Oion density, especially when its density is greater than that of the positively charged oxygen ions (O + ). Interestingly, the dispersion characteristics of KAWs can be made insensitive to the presence of the heavier ions by an appropriate choice of their densities and temperatures.

Kinetic Alfven waves are important in a wide variety of areas like astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas. In cometary environments, waves in the hydromagnetic range of frequencies are excited predominantly by heavy ions. We, therefore, study the stability of the kinetic Alfven wave in a plasma of hydrogen ions, positively and negatively charged oxygen ions and electrons. Each species was modeled by drifting ring distributions in the direction parallel to the magnetic field; in the perpendicular direction the distribution was simulated with a loss cone type distribution obtained through the subtraction of two Maxwellian distributions with different temperatures. We find that for frequencies ω * < ω cH + (ω * and ω cH + being respectively the Doppler shifted and hydrogen ion gyro-frequencies), the growth rate increases with increasing negatively charged oxygen ion densities while decreasing with increasing propagation angles, negative ion temperatures and negative ion mass.

The dispersion characteristics of low-frequency electromagnetic waves are studied in a plasma containing hydrogen ions and positively and negatively charged oxygen ions and electrons. This composition of the plasma approximates very well the coma of comet Halley where many heavy ions have been observed in appreciable numbers. The excitation of these waves results from the relative motion between the protons and the heavy ions, which are considered unmagnetised and, therefore, may act like a beam. We find that the wave growth increases with increasing heavy ion densities, beam velocities and propagation angles.

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