The continuum of unstable magnetohydrodynamic modes in a simple magnetized atmosphere

The spectrum of unstable perturbations of a simple magnetized atmosphere is studied. Magnetic field lines are straight, horizontal, and line tied to conducting walls at both ends. The temperature has horizontal variation across the field lines as well as vertical variation. The unstable spectrum close to marginal stability is found to be continuous from zero to a maximum growth rate. The structure of the unstable continuum modes is calculated in the dissipationless limit. The presence of singularities in the eigenfunction does not affect the growth rate significantly, nor does it lead to plasma heating.