We investigate the role of Alfvén waves in the core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion. We assume that Alfvén waves are generated by convections inside a proto-neutron star (PNS) and emitted from its surface. Then these waves propagate outwards and dissipate via nonlinear processes and heat up matter around a stalled prompt shock. To quantitatively assess the importance of this process for reviv...

We examine a competition between the whistler and Alfvén fire hoses driven by bi-Maxwellian protons with Tp‖ > Tp⊥, where Tp‖ and Tp⊥ are proton temperatures, parallel and perpendicular to the background magnetic field, respectively. We extend the work of Hellinger and Matsumoto [2000] using a two-dimensional hybrid simulation that includes both the instabilities. In the simulation the whistler...

Under the basic assumption that the observed turbulent motions in molecular clouds are Alfvénic waves or turbulence, we emphasize that the Doppler broadening of molecular line profiles directly measures the velocity amplitudes of the waves instead of the Alfvén velocity. Assuming an equipartition between the kinetic energy and the Alfvénic magnetic energy, we further propose the hypothesis that...

We suggest that the observed long-period Alfvén waves in the solar wind may be generated in the solar interior due to the pulsation of the Sun in the fundamental radial mode. The period of this pulsation is about 1 hour. The pulsation causes a periodical variation of density and large-scale magnetic field, this affecting the Alfvén speed in the solar interior. Consequently the Alfvén waves with...

Alfvén waves have been proposed as an important mechanism for the heating of the Sun's outer atmosphere and the acceleration of solar wind, but they are generally believed to have no significant impact on the Earth's upper atmosphere under quiet geomagnetic conditions due to their highly fluctuating nature of interplanetary magnetic field (i.e., intermittent southward magnetic field component)....

[1] We report properties of substorm-related, globally excited Alfvén waves on a temporal scale of 6 to 300 s (3.3 to 167 mHz) at geocentric distances between 5 and 6 RE. The waves were observed in the tail lobes and the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) by the Polar satellite. In each region we made the following observations: (1) The tail lobe Alfvén waves started at substorm onset as determ...

Here we consider the nonlinear evolution of Alfvén waves that have been excited by gravitational waves from merging binary pulsars. We derive a wave equation for strongly nonlinear and dispersive Alfvén waves. Due to the weak dispersion of the Alfvén waves, significant wave steepening can occur, which in turn implies strong harmonic generation. We find that the harmonic generation is saturated ...

Two instabilities could take place in plasma with a bi-Maxwellian proton distribution function with Tp‖ > Tp⊥, where Tp‖ and Tp⊥ are proton temperatures, parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the background magnetic field. The first instability is the fire hose (or whistler fire hose), generating low-frequency whistler waves at parallel propagation. We found a new, second instability, th...

We present an analytical model for the damping of Alfvén waves in the partially ionized chromosphere. The damping is due to collisions between ions and neutrals. The ionneutral collision frequency in this environment is such that the ion and neutral populations are almost perfectly collisionally coupled, leading the Alfvén wave to behave as if it acts on the whole plasma (i.e. including neutral...

The weakly nonlinear interaction of sound and linearly polarised Alfvén waves propagating in the same direction along an applied magnetic field is studied. It is found that a sound wave is coupled to the Alfvén wave with double period and wavelength when the sound and Alfvén speeds are equal. The Alfvén wave drives the sound wave through the ponderomotive force, while the sound wave returns ene...