Nonlinear coupling of left and right handed circularly polarized dispersive Alfvén wave

Journal Article · Tue Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4889861· OSTI ID:22304084

Sharma, Swati; Gaur, Nidhi ^[1]

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1. Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016 (India)

The nonlinear phenomena are of prominent interests in understanding the particle acceleration and transportation in the interplanetary space. The ponderomotive nonlinearity causing the filamentation of the parallel propagating circularly polarized dispersive Alfvén wave having a finite frequency may be one of the mechanisms that contribute to the heating of the plasmas. The contribution will be different of the left (L) handed mode, the right (R) handed mode, and the mix mode. The contribution also depends upon the finite frequency of the circularly polarized waves. In the present paper, we have investigated the effect of the nonlinear coupling of the L and R circularly polarized dispersive Alfvén wave on the localized structures formation and the respective power spectra. The dynamical equations are derived in the presence of the ponderomotive nonlinearity of the L and R pumps and then studied semi-analytically as well as numerically. The ponderomotive nonlinearity accounts for the nonlinear coupling between both the modes. In the presence of the adiabatic response of the density fluctuations, the nonlinear dynamical equations satisfy the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The equations thus obtained are solved in solar wind regime to study the coupling effect on localization and the power spectra. The effect of coupling is also studied on Faraday rotation and ellipticity of the wave caused due to the difference in the localization of the left and the right modes with the distance of propagation.

• OSTI ID: 22304084
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 21; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ACCELERATION
FARADAY EFFECT
INTERPLANETARY SPACE
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PONDEROMOTIVE FORCE
SCHROEDINGER EQUATION
SOLAR WIND