On the Formation of Short-Wavelength Nonlinear Alfvenic Disturbances in the Solar Wind

Details On the Formation of Short-Wavelength Nonlinear Alfvenic Disturbances in the Solar Wind On the Formation of Short-Wavelength Nonlinear Alfvenic Disturbances in the Solar Wind

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsh43a1634l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SH43A-1634

Physics

7836 Mhd Waves And Instabilities (2149, 2752, 6050), 7839 Nonlinear Phenomena (4400, 6944), 7852 Solitons And Solitary Waves (4455), 7859 Transport Processes, 7863 Turbulence (4490)

Scientific paper

Short-wavelength Alfvenic disturbances are commonly observed in the leading edge and the trailing edge of the high-speed solar wind (e.g., Belcher and Davis, 1971; Mavromichalaki et al., 1988; Neugebauer and Buti, 1990). Due to the incompressible nature of the shear-Alfven mode in the MHD plasma, the short-wavelength shear-Alfven wave cannot be developed directly from the long-wavelength shear-Alfven wave via nonlinear steepening. Thus, the formation of the short-wavelength nonlinear Alfven waves in the solar wind must rely on either kinetic processes or a more complicated nonlinear process in the fluid plasma. In this study, we use simulation to show that the short-wavelength nonlinear Alfven waves can be developed from the fast- mode Mach-cone-like nonlinear waves. It has been shown that the fast-mode Mach-cone-like nonlinear waves can be generated by velocity shear instability when the propagation speed of the surface wave is greater than the fast-mode speed in the ambient plasma (e.g., Lai and Lyu, 2006; 2008). The constructive interference and the nonlinear steepening of the fast-mode waves make the Mach-cone-like nonlinear wave a short-wavelength solitary wave. Wave-mode conversion can take place when the fast-mode Mach-cone-like nonlinear waves propagate into a medium in which the magnetic field slowly changes its direction. The Alfven waves that were converted from the short-wavelength fast-mode solitary waves are also of short wavelength. Our results not only solve the non-evolutionary problem of the short-wavelength nonlinear Alfven waves, but also provide a good explanation on why the short-wavelength Alfvenic disturbances commonly occur near the velocity shear regions in the solar wind.

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