Nonlinear interaction of obliquely propagating Alfvén waves and kinetic Alfvén waves in solar wind plasmas

Abstract

AbstractThe nonlinear interaction of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) with other possible plasma modes is considered to be responsible for the observed solar wind turbulent spectrum. In the present paper, a new channel of interaction between a KAW and an obliquely propagating Alfvén wave (AW) has been proposed. The governing dynamical equations are derived and the nonlinear interaction between the two wave modes KAW and AW is studied. The growth rate of modulational instability has been calculated. The nonlinear evolution of KAW filamentation and turbulent spectra has also been discussed. In the inertial range, energy cascade follows nearly Kolmogorov scaling, and after inertial range it follows −2.5 scaling in dispersive range. The obtained results indicate that the proposed mechanism may be responsible for transferring the energy from smaller wavenumbers to larger wavenumbers in the solar wind plasmas. The relevance of the present study with recent Cluster spacecraft observations has also been pointed out.