Alfvén-fast wave coupling in a 2D non-uniform medium

Rachel Davies; Andrew N. Wright

doi:10.1029/2023ea003167

Alfvén-fast wave coupling in a 2D non-uniform medium

Rachel Davies^*, Andrew N. Wright^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Applied Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A 2D Cartesian simulation is presented and used to solve the ideal, low-beta, linear magnetohydrodynamics equations. A simulation is used to investigate the propagation of Alfvén waves through inhomogeneities in Alfvén speed and density. In particular, the loss of Alfvén wave energy through coupling to the fast wave, and also the form of the Alfvén wave as it emerges from the inhomogeneous region is studied. Potential applications of this include the magnetospheres of both Jupiter and the Earth. The results show that Alfvén waves can be significantly distorted by a nonuniformity and still propagate through the region efficiently, with relatively small amounts of Alfvén wave energy lost through mode conversion and reflection.

Original language	English
Article number	e2023EA003167
Number of pages	17
Journal	Earth and Space Science
Volume	10
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2023ea003167
Publication status	Published - 10 Oct 2023

Keywords

Magnetophydrodynamics
Wave mode coupling
Alfen waves
Magnetospheric physics

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10.1029/2023ea003167Licence: CC BY

Davies_2023_ESpSci_ Alfven‐Fast-wave-coupling_CC
© Copyright 2023 The Authors. Earth and Space Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 3.46 MBLicence: CC BY

Solar and Magnetospheric Plasmas: Solar and Magnetospheric Plasmas: Theory and Application
Neukirch, T. (PI), Archontis, V. (CoI), De Moortel, I. (CoI), Hood, A. W. (CoI), Mackay, D. H. (CoI), Parnell, C. E. (CoI) & Wright, A. N. (CoI)
Science & Technology Facilities Council
1/04/22 → 31/03/25
Project: Standard

Data for Figures - Davies & Wright, for submission to Earth and Space Science 2023
Davies, R. (Creator), Figshare, 2023
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.21916689.v3
Dataset

Cite this

@article{19a42833ba634b7a878c382664cd7dfb,

title = "Alfv{\'e}n-fast wave coupling in a 2D non-uniform medium",

abstract = "A 2D Cartesian simulation is presented and used to solve the ideal, low-beta, linear magnetohydrodynamics equations. A simulation is used to investigate the propagation of Alfv{\'e}n waves through inhomogeneities in Alfv{\'e}n speed and density. In particular, the loss of Alfv{\'e}n wave energy through coupling to the fast wave, and also the form of the Alfv{\'e}n wave as it emerges from the inhomogeneous region is studied. Potential applications of this include the magnetospheres of both Jupiter and the Earth. The results show that Alfv{\'e}n waves can be significantly distorted by a nonuniformity and still propagate through the region efficiently, with relatively small amounts of Alfv{\'e}n wave energy lost through mode conversion and reflection.",

keywords = "Magnetophydrodynamics, Wave mode coupling, Alfen waves, Magnetospheric physics",

author = "Rachel Davies and Wright, {Andrew N.}",

note = "Funding: The authors acknowledge financial support by the UK{\textquoteright}s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). R.D. was supported by STFC Doctoral Training Partnership Grant ST/T506436/1. A.N.W. was partially supported by STFC Grant ST/W001195/1.",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1029/2023ea003167",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

journal = "Earth and Space Science",

issn = "2333-5084",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",

number = "10",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Alfvén-fast wave coupling in a 2D non-uniform medium

AU - Davies, Rachel

AU - Wright, Andrew N.

N1 - Funding: The authors acknowledge financial support by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). R.D. was supported by STFC Doctoral Training Partnership Grant ST/T506436/1. A.N.W. was partially supported by STFC Grant ST/W001195/1.

PY - 2023/10/10

Y1 - 2023/10/10

N2 - A 2D Cartesian simulation is presented and used to solve the ideal, low-beta, linear magnetohydrodynamics equations. A simulation is used to investigate the propagation of Alfvén waves through inhomogeneities in Alfvén speed and density. In particular, the loss of Alfvén wave energy through coupling to the fast wave, and also the form of the Alfvén wave as it emerges from the inhomogeneous region is studied. Potential applications of this include the magnetospheres of both Jupiter and the Earth. The results show that Alfvén waves can be significantly distorted by a nonuniformity and still propagate through the region efficiently, with relatively small amounts of Alfvén wave energy lost through mode conversion and reflection.

AB - A 2D Cartesian simulation is presented and used to solve the ideal, low-beta, linear magnetohydrodynamics equations. A simulation is used to investigate the propagation of Alfvén waves through inhomogeneities in Alfvén speed and density. In particular, the loss of Alfvén wave energy through coupling to the fast wave, and also the form of the Alfvén wave as it emerges from the inhomogeneous region is studied. Potential applications of this include the magnetospheres of both Jupiter and the Earth. The results show that Alfvén waves can be significantly distorted by a nonuniformity and still propagate through the region efficiently, with relatively small amounts of Alfvén wave energy lost through mode conversion and reflection.

KW - Magnetophydrodynamics

KW - Wave mode coupling

KW - Alfen waves

KW - Magnetospheric physics

U2 - 10.1029/2023ea003167

DO - 10.1029/2023ea003167

M3 - Article

SN - 2333-5084

VL - 10

JO - Earth and Space Science

JF - Earth and Space Science

IS - 10

M1 - e2023EA003167

ER -

Alfvén-fast wave coupling in a 2D non-uniform medium

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

Solar and Magnetospheric Plasmas: Solar and Magnetospheric Plasmas: Theory and Application

Datasets

Data for Figures - Davies &amp; Wright, for submission to Earth and Space Science 2023

Cite this

Data for Figures - Davies & Wright, for submission to Earth and Space Science 2023