The Alfven Wave Zoo

Bifurcation of the resistive Alfven wave spectrum

A phase integral (WKBJ) theory of damped modes in a resistive cylindrical plasma column is developed. The theory predicts several phenomena observed previously in numerical studies: (i) the complex frequency w has a point spectrum lying on a locus which is approximately independent of the resistivity, and which intersects the ideal continuum only at its end points (at angles of 45° and 30°); (i...

Self-similar evolution of Alfven wave turbulence

We study self-similar solutions of the kinetic equation for MHD wave turbulence derived in (Galtier S et al 2000 J. Plasma Phys. 63 447–88). Motivated by finding the asymptotic behaviour of solutions for initial value problems, we formulate a nonlinear eigenvalue problem comprising in finding a number x∗ such that the self-similar shape function f (η) would have a powerlaw asymptotic η−x ∗ at...

Mixing of shear Alfven wave packets

The general problem of the enhanced dissipation of shear-Alfven waves and, in particular, their ”phase mixing”, resulting from their propagation in inhomogeneous background magnetic fields, is considered from a different view point It is shown that the dissipative mechanism proceeds essentially as the accelerated diffusion of a passively advected tracer, i.e. its ”mixing” by inhomogeneous flows...

The MHD Alfven wave oscillation model of kHz Quasi Periodic Oscillations of Accreting X-ray Binaries

We ascribe the interpretation of the twin kilohertz Quasi Periodic Oscillations (kHz QPOs) of X-ray spectra of Low Mass X-Ray Binaries (LMXBs) to MHD Alfven wave oscillations in the different mass density regions of the accreted matter at the preferred radius, and the upper kHz QPO frequency coincides with the Keplerian frequency. The proposed model concludes that the kHz QPO frequencies depend...

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