Propagation velocity of Alfven wave packets in a dissipative plasma
- Faculty of Liberal Arts, Shizuoka University, 836 Ohya, Shizuoka 422 (Japan)
- Department of High Energy Engineering Science, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Science, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816 (Japan)
We have experimentally studied the behavior of Alfven wave packets in a dissipative plasma due to ion--neutral-atom collisions. It is urged that the central frequency of the packet is observed to gradually decrease with traveling distance in the absorption range of frequencies because of a differential damping among the Fourier components, and that the measured average velocity of its peak amplitude is not accounted for by the conventional group velocity, but by the prediction derived by Tanaka, Fujiwara, and Ikegami [Phys. Rev. A 34, 4851 (1986)]. Furthermore, when the initial central frequency is close to the critical frequency in the anomalous dispersion, the wave packet apparently collapses when traveling along the magnetic field; however, we have found that it is decomposed into another two wave packets with the central frequencies being higher or lower than the critical frequency.
- OSTI ID:
- 7070949
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics; (United States), Vol. 50:3; ISSN 1063-651X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALFVEN WAVES
WAVE PROPAGATION
DISPERSION RELATIONS
HELIUM
ION-ATOM COLLISIONS
IONIZED GASES
KRAMERS-KRONIG CORRELATION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
WAVE PACKETS
ATOM COLLISIONS
COLLISIONS
CORRELATIONS
ELEMENTS
FLUID MECHANICS
FLUIDS
GASES
HYDRODYNAMICS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
ION COLLISIONS
MECHANICS
NONMETALS
RARE GASES
700340* - Plasma Waves
Oscillations
& Instabilities- (1992-)