Formation of spherically polarized Alfven waves and imbedded rotational discontinuities from a small number of entirely oblique waves

Details Formation of spherically polarized Alfven waves and imbedded rotational discontinuities from a small number of entirely oblique waves Formation of spherically polarized Alfven waves and imbedded rotational discontinuities from a small number of entirely oblique waves

Jan 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998jgr...103..335v&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 10, p. 335

Physics

20

Solar Wind, Magnetohydrodynamic Waves, Oblique Shock Waves, Solar Magnetic Field, Linear Polarization, Digital Simulation, Rotating Plasmas, Fourier Transformation, Discontinuity

Scientific paper

We present 2.5-D hybrid numerical simulations of a small group of oblique Alfven waves with linear polarization. These are the first simulations of nonplanar Alfven waves which evolve to a nearly constant-B state (spherical polarization) with imbedded rotational discontinuities (RDs). Initially, B varies with position in the wave group, and we consider only cases where the Fourier components of B-squared are entirely oblique to the background magnetic field B(0). When propagating in different directions but with group speeds in the same direction along B(0), Alfven waves generally evolve nonplanar waveforms with nearly constant magnetic intensity B. In this waveform, the magnetic field vectors move on a sphere of radius B and have a spherical rather than arc polarization. Most Alfvenic fluctuations in the solar wind are spherically polarized. We also find analytical second-order solutions from the MHD equations for linearly polarized Alfven waves in 2.5-D and 3-D. For moderate-wave amplitudes, these show that the second-order driven wave solution can only remove variations of B when the Fourier components of B-squared are oblique to B(0). Large-amplitude waves also evolve to constant magnetic intensity, but higher-order terms produce imbedded RDs with properties similar to those seen in the solar wind. The RDs are steady, and their normals are oblique to B(0).

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