Magnetic Helicity of Alfven Simple Waves

Details Magnetic Helicity of Alfven Simple Waves Magnetic Helicity of Alfven Simple Waves

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsh41b1784w&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SH41B-1784

Physics

[2149] Interplanetary Physics / Mhd Waves And Turbulence, [2164] Interplanetary Physics / Solar Wind Plasma

Scientific paper

The magnetic helicity of fully nonlinear, multi-dimensional Alfven simple waves are investigated, by using relative helicity formulae and also by using an approach involving poloidal and toroidal decomposition of the magnetic field and magnetic vector potential. Different methods to calculate the magnetic vector potential are used, including the homotopy and Biot-Savart formulas. Two basic Alfven modes are identified: (a) the plane 1D Alfven simple wave given in standard texts, in which the Alfven wave propagates along the z-axis, with wave phase \varphi=k0(z-λ t), where k0 is the wave number and λ is the group velocity of the wave, and (b) the generalized Barnes (1976) simple Alfvén wave in which the wave normal n moves in a circle in the xy-plane perpendicular to the mean field, which is directed along the z-axis. The plane Alfven wave (a) is analogous to the slab Alfven mode and the generalized Barnes solution (b) is analogous to the 2D mode in Alfvenic, incompressible turbulence. The helicity characteristics of these two basic Alfven modes are distinct. The helicity characteristics of more general multi-dimensional simple Alfven waves are also investigated. Applications to nonlinear Alfvenic fluctuations and structures observed in the solar wind are discussed.

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