Influence of multiple ion species on low-frequency electromagnetic wave instabilities

The effect of multiple (singly ionized) coexisting newborn ion species on the stability of low-frequency electromagnetic waves was investigated using a plasma model in which solar wind magnetoplasma is made up of isotropic Maxwellian electron and proton populations with a common number density of 4.95/cu cm and temperatures equal to 17.2 eV and 6.9 eV, respectively. It is shown that the effect of multiple ions on wave growth, for given background magnetoplasma conditions and relative densities, depends not only on their mass but also on the physical nature of the wave modes. If the ion masses are disparate, each one of the coexisting ion beams tends to stimulate instabilities without undue influence from the other species. If the masses of newborn ions are similar, they can strongly catalyze wave growth of fluidlike nonresonant modes, but bring about weak growth enhancements in cyclotron resonant instabilities.