Compressibility effects on hydromagnetic surface waves

✍ Scribed by K. Somasundaram; C. Uberoi

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 268 KB
• Volume: 81
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-0938
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00151975

✦ Synopsis

The dispersion equation for hydromagnetic surface waves along a plasma-plasma interface has been solved as a function of the compressibility factor c 1/vA1, where c 1 and vnl are the acoustic and Alfv6n wave speed in one of the medium, for general wave propagation direction. Both slow and fast magnetosonic surface waves can exist. The nature and existence of these waves depends on the values of c~/v a, and 0, the angle of wave propagation. For low-fl plasmas only fast mode exists. The slow mode does not propagate below a critical value of c a. When c a ~ ov the phase velocity of the slow wave tend to the Alfv6n surface wave velocity in the incompressible media and for large 0 the phase velocity of the fast wave approaches this value. The phase velocity of the slow wave increases whereas for the fast wave it decreases with increase in the angle 0.