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The effect of neutral-gas friction on Alfvén surface waves propagating along a plasma–vacuum interface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 1998

NAGENDRA KUMAR
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Roorkee, India Present address: Department of Mathematics, KGK College, Moradabad 244001, India.
KRISHNA M. SRIVASTAVA
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA Present Address: Department of Mathematics, University of Delhi, India.

Abstract

The effect of neutral-gas friction on Alfvén surface waves propagating along an infinitely conducting viscous plasma–vacuum interface has been investigated. A dispersion relation is obtained for such waves. For different values of the neutral-gas friction parameter Sc/ω (where νc is the collisional frequency between two components of the composite plasma), the variations of the real and imaginary parts kr and ki of the wavenumber k with the viscosity parameter vp= μlω/ρ01v2A1 (where μl and ρ01 are the coefficient of viscosity and the density of plasma media 1) are shown graphically. It is concluded that a three-mode structure of Alfvén surface waves results flowing to neutral-gas friction. It is suggested that our results are useful for both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas (e.g. photospheres, chromospheres and cool interstellar clouds).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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