Giant molecular cloud formation through the Parker instability in a skewed magnetic field

Abstract

The effect of the magnetic skew on the Parker instability is investigated by means of the linear stability analysis for a gravitationally stratified gas layer permeated by a horizontal magnetic field. When the magnetic field is skewed (i.e., the field line direction is a function of the height), the wavelength of the most unstable mode is $ \lambda \; \sim \; 10 H $ where $ H $ is the pressure scale height. The growth rate of the short wavelength modes is greatly reduced when the gradient in the magnetic field direction exceeds 0.5 radian per scale height. Our results indicate that the Parker instability in a skewed magnetic field preferentially forms large scale structures like giant molecular clouds.