Quantifying shear-induced wave transformations in the solar wind

Abstract

The possibility of velocity shear-induced linear transformations of different magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar wind is studied both analytically and numerically. A quantitative analysis of the wave transformation processes for all possible plasma-$\beta$ regimes is performed. By applying the obtained criteria for effective wave coupling to the solar wind parameters, we show that velocity shear-induced linear transformations of Alfvén waves into magneto-acoustic waves could effectively take place for the relatively low-frequency Alfvén waves in the energy containing interval. The obtained results are in a good qualitative agreement with the observed features of density perturbations in the solar wind.

Astrophysical Journal (accepted)

References in corpus (6)

• On the Generation, Propagation, and Reflection of Alfven Waves from the Solar Photosphere to the Distant Heliosphere
• Weak compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the solar corona
• On the Nature of Incompressible Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence
• Linear coupling and over-reflection phenomena of magnetohydrodynamic waves in smooth shear flows
• Small-scale anisotropy and intermittency in high and low-latitude solar wind
• On linear coupling of acoustic and cyclotron waves in plasma flows

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Proton, Electron, and Ion Heating in the Fast Solar Wind from Nonlinear Coupling Between Alfvenic and Fast-Mode Turbulence
• The Solar Corona as probed by Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3)
• Connecting the Sun's High-Resolution Magnetic Carpet to the Turbulent Heliosphere