Abstract
A convective instability that leads to the filamentation of large-amplitude Alfvén waves and generates nonoscillatory spatially growing density fluctuations is investigated by using a two-fluid plasma model. Based on linear perturbation analysis for a four-wave parametric coupling process, the dispersion relations of the instability for both a right- and left-hand circularly polarized Alfvén pump are derived. They are then solved numerically for the dependences of the threshold fields and growth rates on the wavenumber k of the nonoscillatory mode, the beta of the plasma, and the frequency of the pumps, for both right- and left-hand circularly polarized Alfvén pumps. The relevance of the proposed instability with some observations in the space plasmas is discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 734-740 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Physics of Fluids B |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1989 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computational Mechanics
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes