Dissipation of non-linear circularly polarized Alfven waves
Astrophysics
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
We study propagating Alfven waves by solving the time-dependent equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in one dimension numerically. In a homogeneous medium the circularly polarized Alfven wave is an exact solution of the ideal MHD equations, and therefore it does not suffer from any dissipation. A high-amplitude linearly polarized Alfven wave, on the other hand, steepens and form current sheets, in which the Poynting flux is lost. In a stratified medium, however, a high-amplitude circularly polarized Alfven wave can also lose a significant fraction of its Poynting flux.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0111073,
title = {Dissipation of non-linear circularly polarized Alfven waves},
author = {R. Turkmani and U. Torkelsson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0111073},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures