1st Edition

Magnetohydrodynamic Waves in Geospace The Theory of ULF Waves and their Interaction with Energetic Particles in the Solar-Terrestrial Environment

By A.D.M. Walker Copyright 2004

    Solar-terrestrial physics deals with phenomena in the region of space between the surface of the Sun and the upper atmosphere of the Earth, a region dominated by matter in a plasma state. This area of physics describes processes that generate the solar wind, the physics of geospace and the Earth's magnetosphere, and the interaction of magnetospheric processes with the upper atmosphere. Such processes are important for energy transfer between the Sun and the terrestrial environment. Many of these processes are mediated by long period wave phenomena, which are usually treated by magnetohydrodynamic methods.

    Magnetohydrodynamic Waves in Geospace: The Theory of ULF Waves and Their Interaction with Energetic Particles in the Solar-Terrestrial Environment provides the theoretician and experimentalist with a coherent account of the important theoretical ideas that underpin current understanding of ultra-low-frequency wave phenomena in solar-terrestrial physics, and that may be used to address future problems. Brief accounts of observational results are included, as well as appendices describing some key mathematical techniques and magnetic field properties in detail

    Written in a concise and clear manner, this book will prove valuable reading for advanced graduate students while active researchers in space plasma physics, solar physics, geophysics, planetary science, and astrophysics in need of a source of detailed information will also appreciate this work.

    I Fundamentals of MHD Wave Theory
    Basic Ideas of Thermodynamics and Electrodynamics
    The Magnetohydrodynamic Approximation
    Single Particle Motion in Electromagnetic Fields
    Kinetic Theory of Plasmas
    Fluid Behaviour
    Equilibrium and Steady State Conditions
    Harmonic Plane Waves in a Uniform, Loss-Free Plasma
    Collisionless damping of MHD waves
    Wave Packets and Energy Propagation in Uniform Media
    Reflection and Transmission at Sharp Boundaries in Stationary Media
    Slowly Varying Media

    II The Solar-Terrestrial Environment
    The Sun, the Solar Wind and the Magnetosphere
    Observations of ULF Oscillations and Waves

    III Waves in Solar Terrestrial Physics
    MHD Wave Equations in Non-Uniform Media
    Propagation in a Plane Stratified Medium
    Standing Waves and Oscillations in a Cold Plasma
    Standing Waves and Oscillations in a Compressional Plasma
    Field Line Resonance in Low Pressure Plasmas
    Mathematics of Field Line Resonance in Compressible Media
    Cavity Oscillations and Waveguide Modes
    Waves in Moving Media
    Shock Waves
    Magnetohydrodynamic Instability
    Wave-Particle Interactions and Kinetic Effects
    Last Words

    IV Appendices
    A Some Mathematical Techniques
    B Properties of the Geomagnetic Field
    C Fourier Analysis Techniques
    D Wave Analysis Techniques

    Biography

    Walker, A.D.M.

    "The book by Walker gives a thoroughly comprehensive and clear account of the main ideas underpinning the behaviour of such waves in solar-terrestrial physics."
    -Professor E.R. Priest, Contemporary Physics