Investigating the process of electron acceleration in auroral regions, we present a study of the temporal evolution of the interaction of Alfvén waves (AW) with a plasma inhomogeneous in a direction transverse to the static magnetic field. This type of inhomogeneity is typical of the density cavities extended along the magnetic field in auroral acceleration regions. We use self-consistent Parti...

A study of the generation of zonal flows and zonal magnetic fields by finite beta drift waves and kinetic drift-Alfvén waves is presented. The analysis is a generalization of recent investigations of the modulational instability for zonal flow generation by electrostatic drift waves to finite beta drift waves and kinetic drift-Alfvén waves. The drift wave driven unstable zonal flows/fields are ...