Ion temperature anisotropy due to perpendicular heating by Alfvén wave propagating along magnetic field lines

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 092903 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.-R. Choi ◽  
M.-H. Woo ◽  
K. Dokgo ◽  
K.-W. Min ◽  
D.-Y. Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Ion Temperature ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Field Lines

scholarly journals The development of magnetic field line wander by plasma turbulence

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory G. Howes ◽  
Sofiane Bourouaine
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Field Line ◽  
Magnetic Field Line ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Magnetic Energy ◽  
Plasma Turbulence ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Astrophysical Plasmas ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Plasma turbulence occurs ubiquitously in space and astrophysical plasmas, mediating the nonlinear transfer of energy from large-scale electromagnetic fields and plasma flows to small scales at which the energy may be ultimately converted to plasma heat. But plasma turbulence also generically leads to a tangling of the magnetic field that threads through the plasma. The resulting wander of the magnetic field lines may significantly impact a number of important physical processes, including the propagation of cosmic rays and energetic particles, confinement in magnetic fusion devices and the fundamental processes of turbulence, magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration. The various potential impacts of magnetic field line wander are reviewed in detail, and a number of important theoretical considerations are identified that may influence the development and saturation of magnetic field line wander in astrophysical plasma turbulence. The results of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence of sub-ion length scales are evaluated to understand the development and saturation of the turbulent magnetic energy spectrum and of the magnetic field line wander. It is found that turbulent space and astrophysical plasmas are generally expected to contain a stochastic magnetic field due to the tangling of the field by strong plasma turbulence. Future work will explore how the saturated magnetic field line wander varies as a function of the amplitude of the plasma turbulence and the ratio of the thermal to magnetic pressure, known as the plasma beta.

scholarly journals Instabilities of Magnetic Fields in Stars

1974 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 177-177
Author(s):  
R. J. Tayler
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Gravitational Potential ◽  
Rotation Period ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Closed Field ◽  
Toroidal Plasma ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
Rotating Star

It has been shown (Markey and Tayler, 1973; Tayler, 1973; Wright, 1973) that a wide range of simple magnetic field configurations in stars are unstable. Although the ultimate effect of the instabilities is unclear, it seems likely that they would lead to enhanced destruction of magnetic flux, so that magnetic field decay would be much more rapid than previously supposed. Instability is almost certain in a non-rotating star containing either a purely toroidal field or a purely poloidal field, which has closed field lines inside the star. In both cases the instability resembles the well known instabilities of cylindrical and toroidal current channels, modified by the constraint that motion must be almost entirely along surfaces of constant gravitational potential.If both toroidal and poloidal fields are present, the problem is more complicated. In a toroidal plasma with a helical field, the worst instabilities are also helical but it is impossible for a helical disturbance to be parallel to a surface of constant gravitational potential everywhere. As a result, the admixture of toroidal and poloidal fields has a stabilizing influence, but it is not at present clear whether the majority of such configurations are completely stable.The effect of rotation has not yet been studied but it will certainly be important if the rotation period is less than the time taken for an Alfvén wave to cross the region of interest. This is true in most stars unless the internal magnetic field is very much stronger than any observed field.

PERTURBATION THEORY FOR THE ALFVÉN WAVE

1995 ◽  
Vol 09 (22) ◽  
pp. 2857-2898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. YOSHIDA ◽  
S.M. MAHAJAN
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Perturbation Theory ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Continuous Spectrum ◽  
Point Spectrum ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Wave Number ◽  
Ambient Magnetic Field ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
The Magnetic Field

The Alfvén wave is the dominant low frequency transverse mode of a magnetized plasma. The Alfvén wave propagates along the magnetic field, and displays a continuous spectrum even in a bounded plasma. This is essentially due to the degeneracy of the wave characteristics, i.e. the frequency (ω) is primarily determined by the wave number in the direction parallel to the ambient magnetic field (k||) and is independent of the perpendicular wavenumbers. The characteristics, that are the direction along which the wave energy propagates, are identical to the ambient magnetic field lines. Therefore, the spectral structure of the Alfvén wave has a close relationship with the geometric structure of the magnetic field lines. In an inhomogeneous plasma, the Alfvén resonance (ω−cAk||=0; cA is the phase velocity of the Alfvén wave) constitutes a singularity for the defining wave equation; this results in a singular eigenfunction corresponding to the continuous spectrum. The aim of this review is to present an overview of the perturbation theory for the Alfvén wave. Emphasis is placed on those perturbations of the continuous spectrum which lead to the creation of point spectra. Such qualitative changes in the spectrum are relevant to many plasma phenomena. The first category of perturbations consists of nonideal effects such as the finite conductivity, kinetic effects arising from the finite electron inertia, and finite gyroradius. These effects add singular perturbations to the mode equation, and modify the spectrum dramatically. These modification, viz. the conversion of the continuous to the point spectrum, can lead to interesting physical phenomenon. A case in point is that of an electron beam propagating in a plasma which Cherenkov emits a left-hand circularly polarized Alfvén wave. The helicity of the ambient magnetic field imparts a frequency shift to the eigenmodes changing the critical velocity for Cherenkov emission. It, then, becomes possible for a sub-Alfvénic electron beam to excite a nonsingular Alfvén wave corresponding to a point spectrum. The second category comprises of geometric perturbations associated with higher dimensional inhomogeneity of the ambient field. Forbidden bands occur when a periodic modulation is applied. In a chaotic magnetic field, the weak localization of the wave occurs, resulting in a point spectrum.

scholarly journals Guided Propagation of the Alfvén Wave in a Tokamak

1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 953
Author(s):  
GG Borg
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Cyclotron Frequency ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Tokamak Plasma ◽  
Azimuthal Magnetic Field ◽  
Tem Mode ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
Guided Propagation ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Experimental observations are presented of the magnetically guided Alfvén wave excited directly by a small dipole loop antenna located in the scrape-off layer of a tokamak plasma. This wave is excited most efficiently by antenna current elements aligned along the magnetic field and measurements indicate that, at all frequencies below the ion cyclotron frequency, the wave propagates for several transits around the machine with a high degree of localization about magnetic field lines intersecting the antenna. Along the field, the wave has both a slowly varying amplitude and phase with predominantly radial electric and azimuthal magnetic field components. These experiments demonstrate that the Alfvén wave can propagate as a magnetically guided TEM mode in plasmas which are highly inhomogeneous. We also present a simplified mathematical description of the wave.

Comparison of different techniques to estimate the direction of the Poynting vector of EMIC emissions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Grison ◽  
Ondrej Santolik
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Electric Field ◽  
Poynting Vector ◽  
Source Region ◽  
Transverse Component ◽  
Equatorial Region ◽  
Magnetic Equator ◽  
Ion Temperature ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Single Plane

<p>Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves usually grow in the inner magnetosphere from hot ion temperature anisotropy. The main source region is located close to the magnetic equator and there is a secondary EMIC source region off the magnetic equator in the dayside magnetosphere. The source region can be identified using measurements of the Poynting vector direction.</p><p>The Poynting vector is ideally derived from the measurement of 3 components of the wave electric field and 3 components of components of the wave magnetic field. However, spinning spacecraft often have only two long mutually perpendicular electric antennas in the spin plane, deployed by the centrifugal force. The third antenna, when present, is usually shorter owing to difficulties of deploying a antenna along the spin axis.</p><p>Estimations of the Poynting vector from measurements of three magnetic field components and two electric field components can be obtained assuming the presence of a single plane wave (and thus perpendicularity of the electric field and the magnetic field vectors, according to the Faraday’s law), following the method developed by Loto'aniu et al. (2005). Applying this method to Cluster data, Allen et al. (2013) found the presence of bidirectional EMIC emissions off the magnetic equatorial region.</p><p>Another technique proposed earlier by Santolík et al. (2001) considers the phase shift estimation between the electric signals from each antenna and synthetic perpendicular magnetic field components obtained from the three-dimensional measurements. The method is based on cross-spectral estimates in the frequency domain and can be used to estimate sign of each component of the Poynting vector. Using this technique Grison et al. (2016) showed the importance of the transverse component of the EMIC emissions far from the source region.</p><p>We compare these methods for different events to check how the results of these two techniques differ. We also discuss what we can learn about the EMIC source region from these measurements.</p>

The inhomogeneous ion temperature anisotropy instabilities of magnetic-field-aligned plasma sheared flow

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 112122 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. V. Mikhailenko ◽  
V. S. Mikhailenko ◽  
Hae June Lee
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Ion Temperature ◽  
Temperature Anisotropy ◽  
Sheared Flow

On the existence of transverse MHD oscillations in an inhomogeneous magnetoplasma

1990 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew N. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Background Field ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Field Perturbation ◽  
Independent Field ◽  
Background Magnetic Field ◽  
Field Geometry ◽  
Divergence Free ◽  
Field Lines

In a cold plasma with no compressional field perturbation the equations governing the two perpendicular components of magnetic-field perturbation decouple. These two equations depend only upon spatial derivatives along the background magnetic field, and give the impression of independent field-line motion in the two transverse directions. However, the perturbation magnetic field b must be divergence-free. It is not meaningful to ask if the field perturbation on an individual background line of force satisfies ∇. b = 0. To decide whether b is divergence-free, we need to know about its spatial variation, i.e. what the state of the neighbouring field lines is. In this paper we investigate two classes of solutions: first we allow the perturbation magnetic flux to satisfy ∇. b = 0 by threading across the background lines of force; the second solution closes b by allowing the perturbation flux to encircle the background field lines (torsional Alfvén waves). For both of these solutions we study the relationship between neighbouring field lines, and are able to derive a set of criteria that the background medium must satisfy. For both classes we find restrictions upon the background magnetic-field geometry - the first class also has a constraint upon the plasma density. The introduction of perfectly conducting massive boundaries is also considered, and a relation given that they must satisfy if the field perturbation is to remain transverse. The criteria are presented in such a manner that it is easy to test if a given medium will be able to support the solutions described above. For example, a three-dimensional dipolo geometry is able to carry oscillatory toroidal fields; but not purely poloidal ones or a torsional Alfvén wave.

Numerical simulation of propagation of the MHD waves in sunspots

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 354-354
Author(s):  
K. Parchevsky ◽  
A. Kosovichev ◽  
E. Khomenko ◽  
V. Olshevsky ◽  
M. Collados
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Sound Speed ◽  
Amplitude Distribution ◽  
Alfven Wave ◽  
Mhd Waves ◽  
Convex Shape ◽  
Wave Source ◽  
Deep Model ◽  
Field Lines ◽  
The Magnetic Field

AbstractWe present results of numerical 3D simulation of propagation of MHD waves in sunspots. We used two self consistent magnetohydrostatic background models of sunspots. There are two main differences between these models: (i) the topology of the magnetic field and (ii) dependence of the horizontal profile of the sound speed on depth. The model with convex shape of the magnetic field lines near the photosphere has non-zero horizorntal perturbations of the sound speed up to the depth of 7.5 Mm (deep model). In the model with concave shape of the magnetic field lines near the photosphere Δ c/c is close to zero everywhere below 2 Mm (shallow model). Strong Alfven wave is generated at the wave source location in the deep model. This wave is almost unnoticeable in the shallow model. Using filtering technique we separated magnetoacoustic and magnetogravity waves. It is shown, that inside the sunspot magnetoacoustic and magnetogravity waves are not spatially separated unlike the case of the horizontally uniform background model. The sunspot causes anisotropy of the amplitude distribution along the wavefront and changes the shape of the wavefront. The amplitude of the waves is reduced inside the sunspot. This effect is stronger for the magnetogravity waves than for magnetoacoustic waves. The shape of the wavefront of the magnetogravity waves is distorted stronger as well. The deep model causes bigger anisotropy for both mgnetoacoustic and magneto gravity waves than the shallow model.

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