Alfvén wave collisions, the fundamental building block of plasma turbulence. III. Theory for experimental design

G. G. Howes; K. D. Nielson; D. J. Drake; J. W.R. Schroeder; F. Skiff; C. A. Kletzing; T. A. Carter

doi:10.1063/1.4812808

Alfvén wave collisions, the fundamental building block of plasma turbulence. III. Theory for experimental design

G. G. Howes, K. D. Nielson, D. J. Drake, J. W.R. Schroeder, F. Skiff, C. A. Kletzing, T. A. Carter

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas is governed by the nonlinear interactions between counterpropagating Alfvén waves. Here, we present the theoretical considerations behind the design of the first laboratory measurement of an Alfvén wave collision, the fundamental interaction underlying Alfvénic turbulence. By interacting a relatively large-amplitude, low-frequency Alfvén wave with a counterpropagating, smaller-amplitude, higher-frequency Alfvén wave, the experiment accomplishes the secular nonlinear transfer of energy to a propagating daughter Alfvén wave. The predicted properties of the nonlinearly generated daughter Alfvén wave are outlined, providing a suite of tests that can be used to confirm the successful measurement of the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfvén waves in the laboratory.

Original language	English
Article number	072304
Journal	Physics of Plasmas
Volume	20
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4812808
State	Published - Jul 2013
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was supported by NSF PHY-10033446, NSF CAREER AGS-1054061, NSF CAREER PHY-0547572, and NASA NNX10AC91G. This works describes the design of an experiment conducted at the Basic Plasma Science Facility, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

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abstract = "Turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas is governed by the nonlinear interactions between counterpropagating Alfv{\'e}n waves. Here, we present the theoretical considerations behind the design of the first laboratory measurement of an Alfv{\'e}n wave collision, the fundamental interaction underlying Alfv{\'e}nic turbulence. By interacting a relatively large-amplitude, low-frequency Alfv{\'e}n wave with a counterpropagating, smaller-amplitude, higher-frequency Alfv{\'e}n wave, the experiment accomplishes the secular nonlinear transfer of energy to a propagating daughter Alfv{\'e}n wave. The predicted properties of the nonlinearly generated daughter Alfv{\'e}n wave are outlined, providing a suite of tests that can be used to confirm the successful measurement of the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfv{\'e}n waves in the laboratory.",

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AU - Skiff, F.

AU - Kletzing, C. A.

AU - Carter, T. A.

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AB - Turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas is governed by the nonlinear interactions between counterpropagating Alfvén waves. Here, we present the theoretical considerations behind the design of the first laboratory measurement of an Alfvén wave collision, the fundamental interaction underlying Alfvénic turbulence. By interacting a relatively large-amplitude, low-frequency Alfvén wave with a counterpropagating, smaller-amplitude, higher-frequency Alfvén wave, the experiment accomplishes the secular nonlinear transfer of energy to a propagating daughter Alfvén wave. The predicted properties of the nonlinearly generated daughter Alfvén wave are outlined, providing a suite of tests that can be used to confirm the successful measurement of the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfvén waves in the laboratory.

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Alfvén wave collisions, the fundamental building block of plasma turbulence. III. Theory for experimental design

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