Magnetosonic modes with a beam of dust or secondary ions

Charged dust particles on near-Keplerian orbits in planetary rings drift relative to the corotating background plasma, and this relative streaming may drive dust-modified magnetosonic waves unstable. Using a magnetofluid model, this situation is revisited, and it is shown that a correct description can be obtained at frequencies and Doppler shifts that are small compared to the electron gyrofrequency. An excellent agreement is reached between the analytical approximation and the numerical solution of the full or reduced dispersion law. A very low-frequency, small wave number beam instability may occur at supermagnetosonic beam velocities of the dust component, but, based on the existing data, is unlikely to play a role in planetary rings. Instability is also found for submagnetosonic speeds, which might be relevant to Saturn's E ring. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.