Modified Jeans instability criteria for magnetized systems

The Jeans instability is analyzed for dense magnetohydrodynamic plasmas with intrinsic magnetization, the latter due to collective electron spin effects. Furthermore, the effects of electron tunneling as well as the Fermi pressure are included. It is found that the intrinsic magnetization of the plasma will enhance the Jeans instability, and can significantly modify the structure of the instability spectra. Implications and limitations of our results are discussed, as well as possible generalizations. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.