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Nonlinear dynamics of obliquely propagating Alfvén waves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 1998

A. GAZOL
Affiliation:
CNRS UMR 6529, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
T. PASSOT
Affiliation:
CNRS UMR 6529, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
P. L. SULEM
Affiliation:
CNRS UMR 6529, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France

Abstract

The long-wave, small-amplitude dynamics of obliquely propagating Alfvén waves is shown, using a reductive perturbative expansion, to be purely linear not only in one space dimension but also in the dispersionless limit in higher dimensions. Furthermore, in the context of multidimensional wave-train modulation, all the diffraction coefficients are found to tend to zero with the dispersion, while the non-linear terms in the envelope equation remain finite. In this ‘semiclassical’ limit, the envelope dynamics results in the formation of growing regions of finite-amplitude oscillations with a typical scale intermediate between the size of the wave packet and its wavelength.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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