Y Voitenko

FARLEY-BUNEMAN INSTABILITY IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE

The Farley-Buneman instability (FBI) is studied in the partially ionized plasma of the solar chromosphere taking into account the finite magnetization of the ions and Coulomb collisions. We obtain the threshold value for the relative velocity between ions and electrons necessary for the instability to develop. It is shown that Coulomb collisions play a destabilizing role in the sense that they enable the instability even in the regions where the ion magnetization is larger than unity. By applying these results to chromospheric conditions, we show that the FBI cannot be responsible for the quasi-steady heating of the solar chromosphere. However, we do not exclude the instability development locally in the presence of strong cross-field currents and/or strong small-scale magnetic fields. In such cases, FBI should produce locally small-scale, ~0.1-3 m, density irregularities in the solar chromosphere. These irregularities can cause scintillations of radio waves with similar wave lengths and provide a tool for remote chromospheric sensing.

Damping of phase-mixed slow magneto-acoustic waves: Real or apparent?

The propagation of slow magnetoacoustic waves along a multithreaded coronal loop is modelled analytically by means of a ray tracing method. It is shown how cross field gradients build up due to phase mixing. The cross field gradients can enhance shear viscosity so that it dominates over compressive viscosity. Nevertheless the short dissipation distances (∼10 7 m) observed for slow waves in coronal loops require very small cross field length scales which imply a filamentary structure on scales at least three orders of magnitude below the current detection limit of TRACE and close to the limit where magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory breaks down. The observed dissipation distances can alternatively be explained by phase mixing in its ideal regime, where the apparent damping is due to the spatial integration of the phase mixed amplitudes by the observation.

Linear and nonlinear wave propagation in rarefied plasmas

Small-amplitude magnetohydrodynamic waves are studied in a dilute collisionless plasma with an anisotropic plasma pressure. The parallel and perpendicular pressure components are defined by two polytropic pressure laws. Previous results obtained within the framework of the Chew–Goldberger–Low double-adiabatic and double-isothermal models are recovered for specific values of the polytropic indices. The double-polytropic model can be considered as an extension of its single-polytropic counterpart model. Dispersion relations for the linear waves are derived and analyzed in the presence of pressure anisotropy. Particular cases of linear and nonlinear waves in a magnetic slab with double-polytropic plasma are investigated. The presence of the effective parallel and perpendicular sound speeds in the slab gives rise to a complicated interplay between kink and sausage modes supported by the slab. The behavior of weakly nonlinear waves in the slab are governed by the Benjamin–Ono equation. The soliton-like solutio...

Nonlinear interaction of kinetic Alfvén waves and radio waves in the solar corona

This paper investigates the nonlinear interaction of short wavelength kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) with extraordinary (x-) and ordinary (o-) mode radio waves using two fluid magnetohydrodynamics. The focus is on the interaction of a preexistent KAW with an ordinary electromagnetic wave, giving rise to an extraordinary electromagnetic wave. The equation governing the time evolution of the amplitude of the excited x-mode is derived. The growth time of the x-mode wave is determined and the corresponding interaction distance is computed for active regions in the low corona and for high corona. The nonlinear coupling appears to be quite efficient for reasonable amplitudes of KAWs in the corona,

Nonlinear Evolution of Phase-mixed Alfvén waves towards short length scales

B_{\rm A}/B_0=0.02

Cross-scale nonlinear coupling and plasma energization by Alfvén waves.

–0.2. We suggest that this process provides a new possibility for the detection and remote sensing of coronal kinetic Alfven waves by means of radio observations.

Excitation of kinetic Alfvén turbulence by MHD waves and energization of space plasmas

We study two nonlinear processes that are efficient in the spectral redistribution of Alfven wave energy - second harmonic generation, and scalar decay. Both processes transport the energy of AWs towards smaller scales and/or higher frequencies, and can accelerate the energization of space plasmas implied by recent SOHO observations.