Excitation and steepening of ion-acoustic waves in the ionospheric Alfvén resonator

Details Excitation and steepening of ion-acoustic waves in the ionospheric Alfvén resonator Excitation and steepening of ion-acoustic waves in the ionospheric Alfvén resonator

Nov 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010jgra..11511212s&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 115, Issue A11, CiteID A11212

Physics

Plasma Physics

Nonlinear Geophysics: Nonlinear Waves, Shock Waves, Solitons (0689, 2487, 3280, 3285, 4275, 6934, 7851, 7852), Space Plasma Physics: Shock Waves (4455), Magnetospheric Physics: Numerical Modeling, Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Waves And Instabilities (2471)

Scientific paper

A nonlinear two-dimensional fluid model describing excitation of the ionospheric Alfvén resonator by a shear Alfvén wave coming from the magnetosphere is developed. Initially, the plasma is in an equilibrium defined by a balance between the gravity, electric field, and pressure gradient forces. This equilibrium is perturbed when a standing Alfvén wave is excited in the resonator. The nonlinear Lorentz force of the wave creates converging and diverging plasma flows along the geomagnetic field, thus producing compressions and rarefactions in the plasma density. Simulation reveals that density perturbations evolve into ion-acoustic shock waves in a process similar to the nonlinear steepening of sound waves in neutral gases. A shock associated with compression of hydrogen ions propagates faster than a shock associated with compression of oxygen ions. One-dimensional shock-capturing Poisson simulation reveals that the shocks appear as double layers at first, but then they decay into ion-acoustic wave packets. The drop of potential across each shock is negligible at any stage of shock's development, making these shocks unfavorable for auroral electron acceleration.

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