The parametric excitation of kinetic Alfvén waves by a magnetic pump

Abstract

The parametric decay of a magneto-acoustic pump wave into low-frequency waves modified by finite temperature effects is considered. The excited waves are the kinetic Alfvén wave and the ion-acoustic wave. The former wave plays an important role in linear heating schemes employing the mode conversion of magneto-acoustic waves at the Alfvén resonance. Here we calculate the parametric growth rates and pump thresholds for excitation of these waves. The main result is that finite temperature effects tend to reduce the growth rate of Alfvén waves.