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Results for “MAGNETOACOUSTIC WAVES”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Conditions for vertical propagation of magnetoacoustic waves in an isothermal atmosphere

The propagation of magnetoacoustic waves in an isothermal atmosphere with constant gravity and uniform magnetic field of an arbitrary direction is considered. The conditions for the vertical propagation of these waves are determined by characteristic frequencies that arise in the MHD wave equation which is considered here in the limit of low-beta plasma. The obtained steady state solutions to the wave equation describe the behavior of fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves and allow defining the characteristic frequencies that separate domains of wave frequency where the sinusoidal and nonsinusoidal wave solutions are found. The particular problem of dependence of the characteristic frequencies on the density gradient as well as on the strength and direction of the uniform magnetic field are discussed. The obtained results may have important consequences on the behavior of magnetoacoustic waves in stellar atmospheres and may be found useful in studying stellar p-mode oscillations.

Musielak, Z. E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

On Dirac equations for linear magnetoacoustic waves propagating in an isothermal atmosphere

A new analytical approach to study linear magnetoacoustic waves propagating in an isothermal, stratified, and uniformly magnetized atmosphere is presented. The approach is based on Dirac equations, and the theory of Sturm-Liouville operators is used to investigate spectral properties of the obtained Dirac Hamiltonians. Two cases are considered: (1) the background magnetic field is vertical, and the waves are separated into purely magnetic (transverse) and purely acoustic (longitudinal) modes; and (2) the field is tilted with respect to the vertical direction and the magnetic and acoustic modes become coupled giving magnetoacoustic waves. For the first case, the Dirac Hamiltonian possesses either a discrete spectrum, which corresponds to standing magnetic waves, or a continuous spectrum, which can be clearly identified with freely propagating acoustic waves. For the second case, the quantum mechanical perturbation calculus is used to study coupling and energy exchange between the magnetic and acoustic components of magnetoacoustic waves. It is shown that this coupling may efficiently prevent trapping of magnetoacoustic waves instellar atmospheres.

Alicki, R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Large-amplitude hydromagnetic waves in collisionless relativistic plasma - Exact solution for the fast-mode magnetoacoustic wave

An exact nonlinear solution is found to the relativistic kinetic and electrodynamic equations (in their hydromagnetic limit) that describes the large-amplitude fast-mode magnetoacoustic wave propagating normal to the magnetic field in a collisionless, previously uniform plasma. It is pointed out that a wave of this kind will be generated by transverse compression of any collisionless plasma. The solution is in essence independent of the detailed form of the particle momentum distribution functions. The solution is obtained, in part, through the method of characteristics; the wave exhibits the familiar properties of steepening and shock formation. A detailed analysis is given of the ultrarelativistic limit of this wave.

Barnes, A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Theory of the large-amplitude plane magnetoacoustic wave propagating transverse to the magnetic field in a hot collisionless plasma

An exact solution of the kinetic and electromagnetic equations for a large-amplitude plane magnetoacoustic wave propagating transverse to the magnetic field in a hot collisionless plasma is presented. The solution gives simple relations among the magnetic-field strength, density, stress tensor, and plasma velocity, all of which are measurable in the interplanetary plasma. These relations are independent of the electron and ion velocity distributions, subject to certain restrictions on 'high-velocity tails.' The magnetic field of the wave is linearly polarized. The wave steepens to form a shock much as the analogous waves of MHD theory do.

Barnes, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mirror modes and fast magnetoacoustic waves near the magnetic pileup boundary of comet P/Halley

Large-amplitude ultralow-frequency wave structure observed on both sides of the magnetic pileup boundary of comet P/Halley during the flyby of the Giotto spacecraft have been analyzed using suprathermal electron density and magnetic field observations. Upstream of the boundary, electron density and magnetic field magnitude variations are anticorrelated, while in the pileup region these quantities are clearly correlated. Both in front of and behind the pileup boundary the observed waves are quasi-perpendicular wave structures as a minimum variance analysis shows. A detailed comparison of our observations in the prepileup region with theoretical and numerical results shows that the mirror mode mode waves may have been generated by a mirror instability driven by the pressure anisotropy of the ring-type distributions of the heavy (water group) pickup cometary ions.

Glassmeier, Karl-Heintz↗
NASA NTRS1986

Dispersive ducting of MHD waves in the plasma sheet - A source of Pi2 wave bursts

Fast magnetoacoustic waves can be ducted by plasma inhomogeneities such as the plasma sheet. As this ducting is dispersive an impulsive source will give rise to a well-defined, quasi-periodic wave packet with time-scales determined by the width of the inhomogeneity and characteristic speeds in the wave duct and surrounding medium. The duration of the wave packet depends upon the distance from the source. It is argued that an impulsive source in the plasma sheet at substorm onset will produce a wave packet near earth with characteristics similar to pi2 wave bursts and put this idea forward as a mechanism for the generation of pi2 pulsations.

Edwin, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

High amplitude waves in the expanding solar wind plasma

We simulated the 1-D nonlinear time-evolution of high-amplitude Alfven, slow and fast magnetoacoustic waves in the solar wind propagating outward at different angles to the mean magnetic (spiral) field, using the expanding box model. The simulation results for Alfven waves and fast magnetoacustic waves fit the observational constraints in the solar wind best, showing decreasing trends for energies and other rms-quantities due to expansion and the appearance of inward propagating waves as minor species in the wind. Inward propagating waves are generated by reflection of Alfven waves propagating at large angles to the magnetic field or they coincide with the occurrence of compressible fluctuations. In our simulations, fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves seem to have a level in the density-fluctuations which is too high when we compare with the observations. Furthermore, the evolution of energies for slow magnetoacoustic waves differs strongly from the evolution of fluctuation energies in situ.

Schmidt, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Impulsively generated fast coronal pulsations

Rapid oscillations in the corona are discussed from a theoretical standpoint, developing some previous work on ducted, fast magnetoacoustic waves in an inhomogeneous medium. In the theory, impulsively (e.g., flare) generated mhd (magnetohydrodynamic) waves are ducted by regions of low Alfven speed (high density) such as coronal loops. Wave propagation in such ducts is strongly dispersive and closely akin to the behavior of Love waves in seismology, Pekeris waves in oceanography and guided waves in fiber optics. Such flare-generated magnetoacoustic waves possess distinctive temporal signatures consisting of periodic, quasi-periodic and decay phases. The quasi-periodic phase possesses the strongest amplitudes and the shortest time scales. Time scales are typically of the order of a second for inhomogeneities (coronal loop width) of 1000 km and Alfven speeds of 1000/kms, and pulse duration times are of tens of seconds. Quasi-periodic signatures have been observed in radio wavelengths for over a decade and more recently by SMM. It is hoped that the theoretical ideas outlined may be successfully related to these observations and thus aid the interpretation of oscillatory signatures recorded by SMM. Such signatures may also provide a diagnostic of coronal conditions. New aspects of the ducted mhd waves, for example their behavior in smoothly varying as opposed to tube-like inhomogeneities, are currently under investigation. The theory is not restricted to loops but applied equally to open field regions.

Edwin, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Observations of plasma depletion in the magnetosheath at the dayside magnetopause

In a set of 17 low- to mid-latitude crossings of the dayside and near-dayside magnetopause, Imp 6 plasma measurements show 11 cases of decreases in magnetosheath density just outside the boundary which are consistent with plasma depletion owing to magnetic flux tube compression as the field becomes draped against the magnetopause. Pressure anisotropies in the sense pressure perpendicular to the field direction greater than pressure parallel to it are a predicted result of the plasma depletion and field compression, and such anisotropies are observed. Application of the mirror instability criterion, which predicts growth of slow mode magnetoacoustic waves for values of the ratio between the cited pressures greater than a critical value, suggests that dayside magnetosheath plasma is usually unstable. One of the seventeen cases shows long-period waveforms in the 100-s density data that are 180 deg out of phase with simultaneous waveforms in the magnetic field strength. These data are interpreted as the signature of slow mode magnetoacoustic waves.

Crooker, N. U.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The effect of random Alfven waves on the propagation of hydromagnetic waves in a finite-beta plasma

Using first-order smoothing theory, Fourier analysis and perturbation methods, the evolution equation of the wave spectrum as well as the nonlinear forces generated by random Alfven waves in a finite-beta plasma with phenomenological Landau-damping effects are obtained. The effect of microscale random Alfven waves on the propagation of large-scale hydromagnetic waves is also investigated by solving the mean-field equations. It is shown that parallel-propagating random Alfven waves are modulationally stable and that obliquely propagating random Alfven waves can be modulationally unstable when the energy of random waves is converted to slow magnetoacoustic waves that can be Landau-damped, providing a dissipation mechanism for the Alfven waves.

Hamabata, Hiromitsu↗
NASA NTRS1976

Heating of the solar chromosphere and corona. I - Generalized inhomogeneous wave equation for magnetoacoustic motions

The generalized inhomogeneous wave equation that governs magnetoacoustic, vortical, and thermal motions in compressible fluids and that is applicable to the problem of heating of the solar chromosphere and corona is obtained. The effects of kinematic and bulk viscosity, heat conduction, Joule dissipation, and magnetic diffusivity are included. Under the usual assumptions, the generalized wave equation reduces to the well-known equations of Lighthill, Kulsrud, Phillips, and others. The major problems encountered in applying Lighthill's (1952) mechanism to sound generation in turbulent media are reviewed for both the subsonic and supersonic cases.

Anand, S. P. S.↗
NASA NTRS1966

Acoustic Kjeldaas edge in potassium.

Kjeldaas absorption edge in cryogenic potassium for shear magnetoacoustic wave propagation in spherical metallic Fermi surface with spin density wave ground state

SHEAR DISTURBANCE↗
NASA NTRS1986

Guided MHD waves as a coronal diagnostic tool

A description is provided of how fast magnetoacoustic waves are ducted along regions of low Alfven velocity (high density) in the corona, exhibiting a distinctive wave signature which may be used as a diagnostic probe of in situ coronal conditions (magnetic field strength, density inhomogeneity, etc.). Some observational knowledge of the start time of the impulsive wave source, possibly a flare, the start and end times of the generated wave event, and the frequency of the pulsations in that event permits a seismological deduction of the physical properties of the coronal medium in which the wave propagated. With good observations the theory offers a new means of probing the coronal atmosphere.

Roberts, B.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Role of Compressive Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity on the Damping of Slow Waves in Coronal Loops with and Without Heating–Cooling Imbalance

In the present article, we derive a new dispersion relation for slow magnetoacoustic waves invoking the effect of thermal conductivity, compressive viscosity, radiation, and an unknown heating term along with the consideration of heating–cooling imbalance from linearized MHD equations. We solve the general dispersion relation to understand the role of compressive viscosity and thermal conductivity in the damping of slow waves in coronal loops with and without heating–cooling imbalance. We have analyzed the wave damping for the range of loop length L=50--500 Mm, temperature T=5--30 MK, and density ρ=10^(−11)--10^(−9) kg/cu.m. It was found that the inclusion of compressive viscosity along with thermal conductivity significantly enhances the damping of the fundamental mode oscillations in shorter (e.g. L=50 Mm) and super-hot (T>10 MK) loops. However, the role of viscosity in the damping is insignificant in longer (e.g. L=500 Mm) and hot loops (T≤10 MK) where, instead, thermal conductivity along with the presence of heating–cooling imbalance plays a dominant role. For shorter loops at a super-hot regime of temperature, the increment in the loop density substantially enhances the damping of the fundamental modes due to thermal conductivity when viscosity is absent, however, when the compressive viscosity is added the increase in density substantially weakens the damping. Thermal conductivity alone is found to play a dominant role in longer loops at lower temperatures (T≤10 MK), while compressive viscosity dominates the damping at super-hot temperatures (T>10 MK) in shorter loops. The predicted scaling law between damping time (τ) and wave period (P) is found to better match the observed SUMER (Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation) oscillations when the heating–cooling imbalance is taken into account in addition to thermal conductivity and compressive viscosity for the damping of the fundamental slow mode oscillations.

Abhinav Prasad↗