Parametric excitation of magnetoacoustic waves by a pump magnetic field in a high-β plasma

1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. F. Cramer

The parametric excitation of slow, intermediate (Alfvén) and fast magneto-acoustic waves by a modulated spatially non-uniform magnetic field in a plasma with a finite ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure is considered. The waves are excited in pairs, either pairs of the same mode, or a pair of different modes. The growth rates of the instabilities are calculated and compared with the known result for the Alfvén wave in a zero gas pressure plasma. The only waves that are found not to be excited are the slow plus fast wave pair, and the intermediate plus slow or fast wave pair (unless the waves have a component of propagation direction perpendicular to both the background magnetic field and the direction of non-uniformity of the field).

2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. A35 ◽  
Author(s):  
De-Fu Bu ◽  
Amin Mosallanezhad

Context. Observations indicate that wind can be generated in hot accretion flow. Wind generated from weakly magnetized accretion flow has been studied. However, the properties of wind generated from strongly magnetized hot accretion flow have not been studied. Aims. In this paper, we study the properties of wind generated from both weakly and strongly magnetized accretion flow. We focus on how the magnetic field strength affects the wind properties. Methods. We solve steady-state two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equations of black hole accretion in the presence of a largescale magnetic field. We assume self-similarity in radial direction. The magnetic field is assumed to be evenly symmetric with the equatorial plane. Results. We find that wind exists in both weakly and strongly magnetized accretion flows. When the magnetic field is weak (magnetic pressure is more than two orders of magnitude smaller than gas pressure), wind is driven by gas pressure gradient and centrifugal forces. When the magnetic field is strong (magnetic pressure is slightly smaller than gas pressure), wind is driven by gas pressure gradient and magnetic pressure gradient forces. The power of wind in the strongly magnetized case is just slightly larger than that in the weakly magnetized case. The power of wind lies in a range PW ~ 10−4–10−3 Ṁinc2, with Ṁin and c being mass inflow rate and speed of light, respectively. The possible role of wind in active galactic nuclei feedback is briefly discussed.


1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1145-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Verkhoglyadova ◽  
A. Agapitov ◽  
A. Andrushchenko ◽  
V. Ivchenko ◽  
S. Romanov ◽  
...  

Abstract. Compressional waves with periods greater than 2 min (about 10-30 min) at low geomagnetic latitudes, namely compressional Pc5 waves, are studied. The data set obtained with magnetometer MIF-M and plasma analyzer instrument CORALL on board the Interball-1 are analyzed. Measurements performed in October 1995 and October 1996 in the dawn plasma sheet at -30 RE ≤ XGSM and |ZGSM| ≤ 10 RE are considered. Anti-phase variations of magnetic field and ion plasma pressures are analyzed by searching for morphological similarities in the two time series. It is found that longitudinal and transverse magnetic field variations with respect to the background magnetic field are of the same order of magnitude. Plasma velocities are processed for each time period of the local dissimilarity in the pressure time series. Velocity disturbances occur mainly transversely to the local field line. The data reveal the rotation of the velocity vector. Because of the field line curvature, there is no fixed position of the rotational plane in the space. These vortices are localized in the regions of anti-phase variations of the magnetic field and plasma pressures, and the vortical flows are associated with the compressional Pc5 wave process. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the main features of the nonlinear wave processes. Our main goal is to study coupling of drift Alfven wave and magnetosonic wave in a warm inhomogeneous plasma. A vortex is the partial solution of the set of the equations when the compression is neglected. A compression effect gives rise to a nonlinear soliton-like solution.Key words. Magnetosphere physics (magnetotail) · Space plasma physics (kinetic and MHD theory; non-linear phenomena)


2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 983-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Sundkvist ◽  
A. Vaivads ◽  
M. André ◽  
J.-E. Wahlund ◽  
Y. Hobara ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present a detailed study of waves with frequencies near the proton gyrofrequency in the high-altitude cusp for northward IMF as observed by the Cluster spacecraft. Waves in this regime can be important for energization of ions and electrons and for energy transfer between different plasma populations. These waves are present in the entire cusp with the highest amplitudes being associated with localized regions of downward precipitating ions, most probably originating from the reconnection site at the magnetopause. The Poynting flux carried by these waves is downward/upward at frequencies below/above the proton gyrofrequency, which is consistent with the waves being generated near the local proton gyrofrequency in an extended region along the flux tube. We suggest that the waves can be generated by the precipitating ions that show shell-like distributions. There is no clear polarization of the perpendicular wave components with respect to the background magnetic field, while the waves are polarized in a parallel-perpendicular plane. The coherence length is of the order of one ion-gyroradius in the direction perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field and a few times larger or more in the parallel direction. The perpendicular phase velocity was found to be of the order of 100km/s, an order of magnitude lower than the local Alfvén speed. The perpendicular wavelength is of the order of a few proton gyroradius or less. Based on our multi-spacecraft observations we conclude that the waves cannot be ion-whistlers, while we suggest that the waves can belong to the kinetic Alfvén branch below the proton gyrofrequency fcp and be described as non-potential ion-cyclotron waves (electromagnetic ion-Bernstein waves) above. Linear wave growth calculations using kinetic code show considerable wave growth of non-potential ion cyclotron waves at wavelengths agreeing with observations. Inhomogeneities in the plasma on the order of the ion-gyroradius suggests that inhomogeneous (drift) or nonlinear effects or both of these should be taken into account.


2015 ◽  
Vol 767 ◽  
pp. 199-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Heifetz ◽  
J. Mak ◽  
J. Nycander ◽  
O. M. Umurhan

AbstractThe interacting vorticity wave formalism for shear flow instabilities is extended here to the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) setting, to provide a mechanistic description for stabilising and destabilising shear instabilities by the presence of a background magnetic field. The interpretation relies on local vorticity anomalies inducing a non-local velocity field, resulting in action at a distance. It is shown here that the waves supported by the system are able to propagate vorticity via the Lorentz force, and waves may interact. The existence of instability then rests upon whether the choice of basic state allows for phase locking and constructive interference of the vorticity waves via mutual interaction. To substantiate this claim, we solve the instability problem of two representative basic states, one where a background magnetic field stabilises an unstable flow and the other where the field destabilises a stable flow, and perform relevant analyses to show how this mechanism operates in MHD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
pp. A25 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Popescu Braileanu ◽  
V. S. Lukin ◽  
E. Khomenko ◽  
Á. de Vicente

Solar chromosphere consists of a partially ionized plasma, which makes modeling the solar chromosphere a particularly challenging numerical task. Here we numerically model chromospheric waves using a two-fluid approach with a newly developed numerical code. The code solves two-fluid equations of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, together with the induction equation for the case of the purely hydrogen plasma with collisional coupling between the charged and neutral fluid components. The implementation of a semi-implicit algorithm allows us to overcome the numerical stability constraints due to the stiff collisional terms. We test the code against analytical solutions of acoustic and Alfvén wave propagation in uniform medium in several regimes of collisional coupling. The results of our simulations are consistent with the analytical estimates, and with other results described in the literature. In the limit of a large collisional frequency, the waves propagate with a common speed of a single fluid. In the other limit of a vanishingly small collisional frequency, the Alfvén waves propagate with an Alfvén speed of the charged fluid only, while the perturbation in neutral fluid is very small. The acoustic waves in these limits propagate with the sound speed corresponding to either the charges or the neutrals, while the perturbation in the other fluid component is negligible. Otherwise, when the collision frequency is similar to the real part of the wave frequency, the interaction between charges and neutrals through momentum-transfer collisions cause alterations of the waves frequencies and damping of the wave amplitudes.


Author(s):  
Mats Carlsson ◽  
Thomas J Bogdan

Acoustic waves are generated by the convective motions in the solar convection zone. When propagating upwards into the chromosphere they reach the height where the sound speed equals the Alfvén speed and they undergo mode conversion, refraction and reflection. We use numerical simulations to study these processes in realistic configurations where the wavelength of the waves is similar to the length scales of the magnetic field. Even though this regime is outside the validity of previous analytic studies or studies using ray-tracing theory, we show that some of their basic results remain valid: the critical quantity for mode conversion is the angle between the magnetic field and the k-vector: the attack angle. At angles smaller than 30° much of the acoustic, fast mode from the photosphere is transmitted as an acoustic, slow mode propagating along the field lines. At larger angles, most of the energy is refracted/reflected and returns as a fast mode creating an interference pattern between the upward and downward propagating waves. In three-dimensions, this interference between waves at small angles creates patterns with large horizontal phase speeds, especially close to magnetic field concentrations. When damping from shock dissipation and radiation is taken into account, the waves in the low–mid chromosphere have mostly the character of upward propagating acoustic waves and it is only close to the reflecting layer we get similar amplitudes for the upward propagating and refracted/reflected waves. The oscillatory power is suppressed in magnetic field concentrations and enhanced in ring-formed patterns around them. The complex interference patterns caused by mode-conversion, refraction and reflection, even with simple incident waves and in simple magnetic field geometries, make direct inversion of observables exceedingly difficult. In a dynamic chromosphere it is doubtful if the determination of mean quantities is even meaningful.


Author(s):  
V.M. Nakariakov

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves represent one of the macroscopic processes responsible for the transfer of the energy and information in plasmas. The existence of MHD waves is due to the elastic and compressible nature of the plasma, and by the effect of the frozen-in magnetic field. Basic properties of MHD waves are examined in the ideal MHD approximation, including effects of plasma nonuniformity and nonlinearity. In a uniform medium, there are four types of MHD wave or mode: the incompressive Alfvén wave, compressive fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves, and non-propagating entropy waves. MHD waves are essentially anisotropic, with the properties highly dependent on the direction of the wave vector with respect to the equilibrium magnetic field. All of these waves are dispersionless. A nonuniformity of the plasma may act as an MHD waveguide, which is exemplified by a field-aligned plasma cylinder that has a number of dispersive MHD modes with different properties. In addition, a smooth nonuniformity of the Alfvén speed across the field leads to mode coupling, the appearance of the Alfvén continuum, and Alfvén wave phase mixing. Interaction and self-interaction of weakly nonlinear MHD waves are discussed in terms of evolutionary equations. Applications of MHD wave theory are illustrated by kink and longitudinal waves in the corona of the Sun.


1991 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo F. Viñas ◽  
Melvyn L. Goldstein

We investigate the parametric decay and modulational instabilities of a large-amplitude circularly polarized dispersive Alfvén wave. Our treatment is more general than that of previous derivations based on the two-fluid equations in that we allow for propagation of the unstable daughter waves at arbitrary angles to the background magnetic field, although our main concern in this paper is the exploration of new aspects of propagation parallel to the DC magnetic field. In addition to the well-known coupling of pump waves to electrostatic daughter waves, we find a new parametric channel where the pump wave couples directly to electromagnetic daughter waves. Excitation of the electromagnetic instability occurs only for modulation (k/k0 ≤ 1) and not for decay (k/k0 < 1). In contrast with the modulational instability excited by the electrostatic coupling, the electromagnetic modulational instability exists for both left-hand (K > 0) and right-hand (K < 0) polarization. For large k/k0, the electromagnetic channel dominates, while at lower values the electrostatic channel has a larger growth rate for modest values of dispersion, pump-wave amplitude and plasma β. Unlike the electrostatic modulational instability, the growth rate of the electromagnetic instability increases monotonically with increasing pump wave amplitude. This analysis confirms that, for decay, the dominant process is coupling to electrostatic daughter waves, at least for parallel propagation. For modulation, the coupling to electromagnetic daughter waves usually dominates, suggesting that the parametric modulational instability is really an electromagnetic phenomenon.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-742
Author(s):  
Katharina Ostaszewski ◽  
Karl-Heinz Glassmeier ◽  
Charlotte Goetz ◽  
Philip Heinisch ◽  
Pierre Henri ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present a statistical survey of large-amplitude, asymmetric plasma and magnetic field enhancements detected outside the diamagnetic cavity at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko from December 2014 to June 2016. Based on the concurrent observations of plasma and magnetic field enhancements, we interpret them to be magnetosonic waves. The aim is to provide a general overview of these waves' properties over the mission duration. As the first mission of its kind, the ESA Rosetta mission was able to study the plasma properties of the inner coma for a prolonged time and during different stages of activity. This enables us to study the temporal evolution of these waves and their characteristics. In total, we identified ∼ 70 000 steepened waves in the magnetic field data by means of machine learning. We observe that the occurrence of these steepened waves is linked to the activity of the comet, where steepened waves are primarily observed at high outgassing rates. No clear indications of a relationship between the occurrence rate and solar wind conditions were found. The waves are found to propagate predominantly perpendicular to the background magnetic field, which indicates their compressional nature. Characteristics like amplitude, skewness, and width of the waves were extracted by fitting a skew normal distribution to the magnetic field magnitude of individual steepened waves. With increasing mass loading, the average amplitude of the waves decreases, while the skewness increases. Using a modified 1D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, we investigated if the waves can be described by the combination of nonlinear and dissipative effects. By combining the model with observations of amplitude, width and skewness, we obtain an estimate of the effective plasma diffusivity in the comet–solar wind interaction region and compare it with suitable reference values as a consistency check. At 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, these steepened waves are of particular importance as they dominate the innermost interaction region for intermediate to high activity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Khotyaintsev ◽  
Daniel B Graham ◽  
Konrad Steinvall ◽  
Andris Vaivads ◽  
Milan Maksimovic ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;We report Solar Orbiter observations of electromagnetic waves near the proton cyclotron frequency during the first perihelion. The waves have polarization close to circular and have wave vectors closely aligned with the background magnetic field. Such waves are potentially important for heating of the solar wind as their frequency and polarization allows effective energy exchange with solar wind protons. The Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument provides a high-cadence measurement of plasma density and electric field which we use together with the magnetic field measured by MAG to characterize these waves. In particular we compute the compressibility and the phase between the density fluctuations and the parallel component of the magnetic field, and show that these have a distinct behavior for the waves compared to the Alfv&amp;#233;nic turbulence. We compare the observations to multi-fluid plasma dispersion and identify the waves modes corresponding to the observed waves. We discuss the importance of the waves for solar wind heating.&lt;/p&gt;


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