KINETIC ALFVEN MODES IN A COLLISIONAL PLASMA

Kinetic modes of the Alfven wave in an inhomogeneous plasma are investigated by using a two-fluid theory including a finite pressure effect, the Hall effect, electron inertia and collisional effects. The dispersion relation involving the kinetic Alfven wave, the surface electrostatic wave and the resistive wave is derived with the terms of ion-cyclotron frequency and electron-ion collisions, and it is also concluded that the observed waves in the experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. 64 (1990) 1247; J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 59 (1990) 2374] are kinetic Alfven waves in a collisional plasma including ion-neutral collision effects.