Approximate mode decomposition in a compressible anisotropic plasma

A method of treating boundary value problems for uniform compressible, anisotropic plasmas is presented. Based on a limited extension to the anisotropic case of the mode decomposition technique developed by M. H. Cohen [4] for isotropic plasmas, this method separates the linearized homogeneous Maxwell-Euler equations including the Lorentz term, ( constant), into two sets of mode equations: the electromagnetic mode equations which are identical to the standard magnetoionic equations for an incompressible anisotropic plasma and the plasma mode equations which are similar to the well-known quasi-static equations for an anisotropic plasma. This decomposition is not exact, but will provide useful approximations so long as the plasma mode does not approach a cutoff (phase velocity