The Mercier criterion is a criterion for plasma used in the theoretical study of
plasma instability
The stability of a plasma is an important consideration in the study of plasma physics. When a system containing a plasma is at equilibrium, it is possible for certain parts of the plasma to be disturbed by small perturbative forces acting on it. ...
. It was first proposed in 1954 by C. Mercier, who applied the perturbation method (in which
represents the frequency
and
is the z-direction of the unit vector) to the plasma mathematical model to compute calculations.
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References
Plasma instabilities
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