Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jun 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998apj...500..483p&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.500, p.483
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
15
Magnetohydrodynamics: Mhd, Plasmas, Sun: Corona, Sun: Solar Wind, Waves
Scientific paper
The dissipation of Alfven wave packets propagating in an inhomogeneous three-dimensional magnetic field is numerically studied in the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation. The dissipation rate is found to scale proportionally to the logarithm of viscosity and/or resistivity, i.e., much faster than the scaling found for two-dimensional configurations (phase mixing, resonance absorption). This phenomenon is related to the exponential separation of neighboring rays; estimations of the corresponding rate are consistent with the behavior of the Kolmogorov entropy in this kind of structure. The scaling law td ~ ln S (td is the e-folding dissipation time and S is the Reynolds number) holds not only in an irregular magnetic field (which was studied by Similon & Sudan), but is also verified in quasi-uniform magnetic structures, which contain very small chaotic regions. This study can apply to the heating of low-collision plasmas, e.g., in astrophysical contexts such as the solar corona.
Malara Francesco
Petkaki Panagiota
Veltri Pierluigi
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