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MHD surface waves in high- and low-beta plasmas. Part 1. Normal-mode solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

Z. E. Musielak
Affiliation:
Space Science Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812, U.S.A.
S. T. Suess
Affiliation:
Space Science Laboratory, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812, U.S.A.

Abstract

Since the first paper by Barston (1964) on electrostatic oscillations in inhomogeneous cold plasmas, it has been commonly accepted that all finite layers with a continuous profile in pressure, density and magnetic field cannot support normal surface waves but instead the waves always decay through phase mixing (also called resonant absorption). Here we reanalyse the problem by studying a compressible current sheet of a general structure with rotation of the magnetic field included. We find that all inhomogeneous layers considered in the high-β plasma limit do not support normal modes. However, in the limit of a low-β plasma there are some cases when normal-mode solutions are recovered. The latter means that the process of resonant absorption is not common for all inhomogeneous layers.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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