Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on the magnetopause, magnetohydrodynamic waveguide in the outer magnetosphere, and Alfven resonance deep in the magnetosphere
- Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Siberian Branch (Russian Federation)
Oscillations of the 'magnetosphere-solar wind' system are studied analytically in the framework of a plane-stratified model of the medium. The properties of oscillations are determined by three phenomena: Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on the tangential discontinuity (magnetopause) separating the magnetosphere and the solar wind, the presence of a waveguide for fast magnetosonic waves in the magnetosphere, and the Alfven resonance-a sharp increase in the amplitude of oscillations having the properties of Alfven waves-in the inner magnetosphere. The oscillations of the system form a discrete spectrum of eigenmodes. Analytical expressions are obtained for the frequency and growth rate of instability of each mode, as well as for the functions describing the spatial structure of these modes. All these characteristics of the eigenmodes are shown to depend on the velocity of the solar wind as a parameter. The dependences of the main mode characteristics (such as the instability thresholds, the points of the maximum and minimum growth rate, and the spatial distributions of the oscillation energy) on this parameter are determined for each eigenmode.
- OSTI ID:
- 22126446
- Journal Information:
- Plasma Physics Reports, Vol. 39, Issue 6; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; http://www.springer-ny.com; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-780X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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