  The Goldreich and Ward (1973) (axisymmetric) gravitational instability of a
razor thin particle layer occurs when the Toomre parameter $Q_T \equiv c_p
\Omega_0 / \pi G \Sigma_p < 1$ ($c_p$ being the particle dispersion velocity).
Ward(1976,2000) extended this analysis by adding the effect of gas drag upon
particles and found that even when $Q_T > 1$, sufficiently long waves were
always unstable. Youdin (2005a,b) carried out a detailed analysis and showed
that the instability allows chondrule-sized ($\sim 1 $ mm) particles to undergo
radial clumping with reasonable growth times even in the presence of a moderate
amount of turbulent stirring. The analysis of Youdin includes the role of
turbulence in setting the thickness of the dust layer and in creating a
turbulent particle pressure in the momentum equation. However, he ignores the
effect of turbulent mass diffusivity on the disturbance wave. Here we show that
including this effect reduces the growth-rate significantly, by an amount that
depends on the level of turbulence, and reduces the maximum intensity of
turbulence the instability can withstand by 1 to 3 orders of magnitude. The
instability is viable only when turbulence is extremely weak and the solid to
gas surface density of the particle layer is considerably enhanced over
minimum-mass-nebula values. A simple mechanistic explanation of the instability
shows how the azimuthal component of drag promotes instability while the radial
component hinders it. A gravito-diffusive overstability is also possible but
never realized in the nebula models.
