Structure and stability of nonlinear Alfven waves in a hot plasma

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979 · Sov. J. Plasma Phys. (Engl. Transl.); (United States)

OSTI ID:6370499

Churilov, S M

Nonlinear Alfven waves propagating in a homogeneous plasma with a strong external magnetic field are analyzed on the basis of two-fluid collisionless magnetohydrodynamics. The plasma is assumed hot; the effects of finite ion Larmor radius are taken into account. The evolution of one-dimensional Alfven waves is described by a modified Korteweg-de Vries equation. A nonlinear dispersion relation is derived for the Alfven wave and used to derive a nonlinear parabolic equation for the envelopes of wave packets which are narrow in k space. Such packets are unstable with respect to envelope modulation. The instability regions are found for the solutions under study (corresponding to a plane wave and to localized wave packets), and the maximum growth rate is determined. Estimates show that at the plasma properties corresponding to a two-component tokamak reactor the ''decay'' of the nonlinear Alfven waves due to the modulational instability occurs in a time much longer than the operating time of the reactor. The implication is that nonlinear Alfven waves can have an important effect on the dynamics of the processes in a tokamak.

• Research Organization: Siberian Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, the Ionosphere, and Wave Propagation, Siberian Branch, Academy of Sciences of the USSR
• OSTI ID: 6370499
• Journal Information: Sov. J. Plasma Phys. (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Journal Name: Sov. J. Plasma Phys. (Engl. Transl.); (United States) Vol. 5:1; ISSN SJPPD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700107 -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
700108* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Wave Phenomena
ALFVEN WAVES
BEAM INJECTION
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
DECAY INSTABILITY
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
HOMOGENEOUS PLASMA
HOT PLASMA
HYDRODYNAMICS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
INSTABILITY
KORTEWEG-DE VRIES EQUATION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
NEUTRAL ATOM BEAM INJECTION
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
QUASI PARTICLES
SOLITONS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
TWO-COMPONENT TORUS