Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2006
Three-dimensional electrostatic particle simulations are performed in order to investigate the effects of ion flow parallel to magnetic-field lines and their velocity shears on low-frequency plasma instabilities in detail. In the case where the ion drift speed is so small that the low-frequency instabilities cannot take place, the ion-acoustic wave is destabilized by introducing the ion-flow velocity shear. The ion-acoustic wave is locally destabilized in the large velocity shear region. On the other hand, the ion-cyclotron instability is also destabilized when the ion drift speed exceeds a certain threshold. The flow velocity shear enhances not only the fundamental mode but also the high harmonic modes. As a result, the spiky fluctuations in the time domain are locally observed in the velocity shear region, which are caused by the simultaneous existence of several coherent ion-cyclotron harmonics.