Propagation of Alfvén-gravitational waves in a stratified perfectly conducting flow with transverse magnetic field

Abstract

Alfvén-gravitational waves are found to propagate in a Boussinesq, inviscid, adiabatic, perfectly conducting fluid in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field in which the mean horizontal velocity U is independent of vertical height z. The governing wave equation is a fourth-order ordinary differential equation with constant coefficients and is not singular when the Doppler-shifted frequency Ωd = 0, but is singular when the Alfvén frequency ΩA = 0.If Ω2d < Ω2A the waves are attenuated by a factor exp − [2ΩA(N2−Ω2d)½−Ω2d + Ω2A]z, which tends to zero as z → ∞. This attenuation is similar to the viscous attenuation of waves discussed by Hughes & Young (1966). The interpretation of upward and downward propagation of waves is given.