An Alfvén wave, named after Hannes Alfvén, is a type of magnetohydrodynamic wave. Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (May 30, 1908; Norrköping, Sweden - April 2, 1995; Djursholm, Sweden) was a Swedish electrical power engineer. ... MHD Simulation of Solar Wind Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) (magnetofluiddynamics or hydromagnetics), is the academic discipline which studies the dynamics of electrically conducting fluids. ... A wave crashing against the shore A wave is a disturbance that propagates. ...

An Alfvén wave in a plasma is a traveling oscillation of the ions and the magnetic field. The ion mass density provides the inertia and the magnetic field line tension provides the restoring force. The wave propagates in the direction of the magnetic field, although waves exist at oblique incidence and smoothly change into the magnetosonic wave when the propagation is perpendicular to the magnetic field. The motion of the ions and the perturbation of the magnetic field are in the same direction and transverse to the direction of propagation. The wave is dispersionless with a speed of The word plasma has a Greek root which means to be formed or molded (the word plastic shares this root). ... Oscillation is the periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure as seen, for example, in a swinging pendulum. ... A light wave is an example of a transverse wave. ...

See also

• Ambiplasma
• E-layer
• List of astronomical topics
• List of wave topics
• Magnetogravity
• Nobel Prize in Physics
• Standing wave

In the history of cosmology an ambiplasma is a hypothetical plasma containing a mixture of both matter and antimatter. ... The Kennelly-Heaviside Layer is also known as the E region or just as Heaviside Layer (after Oliver Heaviside). ... This article needs cleanup. ... This is a list of wave topics, by Wikipedia page. ... Magnetogravity, or Magneto-gravity, is gravity that has been modified by magnetic forces. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... A standing wave, also known as a stationary wave, is a wave that remains in a constant position. ...

Further readings

• Alfvèn, H. "Cosmic Plasma". Holland. 1981.
• Otani, N. F., "Application of Nonlinear Dynamical Invariants in a Single Electromagnetic Wave to the Study of the Alfvén-Ion-Cyclotron Instability (http://content.aip.org/PFLDAS/v31/i6/1456_1.html)", Physics of Fluids 31, 1456-1464 (1988).
• Silberstein, M., and N. F. Otani, "Computer simulation of Alfvén waves and double layers along auroral magnetic field lines (http://otani.vet.cornell.edu/papers/silberstein_otani_1994.pdf)", Journal of Geophysical Research 99, 6351-6365 (1994). (PDF)
• Cramer, N. F., and S. V. Vladimirov, "Alfvén Waves in Dusty Interstellar Clouds (http://www.atnf.csiro.au/pasa/14_2/cramer/paper/)". PASA, 14 (2).
• Otani, N. F., "The Alfvén ion-cyclotron instability, simulation theory and techniques". Journal of Computational Physics 78, 251-277 (1988).

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External links and references

• Weisstein, Eric W., "Alfvén Wave (http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/AlfvenWave.html)". Wolfram Research, Inc., Champaign, IL. 2004.
• Otani, N. F., "Typical Alfvén wave simulation (http://otani.vet.cornell.edu/auroral_accel/stdmovie.html)". Particle Simulations of Auroral Electron Acceleration (http://otani.vet.cornell.edu/auroral_accel/). 2004.
• Maggs, J., et. al., "Laboratory Studies of Space Relevant Alfvén Wave Processes (http://lasp.colorado.edu/alfconf3/AA_maggs.pdf)". Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. 2004. (PDF)
• Jaun, Andre, et. al., "Global waves in resistive and hot Tokamak plasmas - Alfvén wave (http://www.nada.kth.se/~jaun/Research/pub/CPC95/node20.html)". Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland). Comput. Phys. Commun. vol.92, 1995.
• Vondrak, Richard, "Alfvén Wave (http://lep694.gsfc.nasa.gov/lepedu/glossary.html#Alfven_Wave)". Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD USA. 2004.
• Champeaux, Stephanie, Dimitri Laveder, Thierry Passot, and Pierre-Louis Sulem, "Alfvén Wave Filamentation (http://www.obs-nice.fr/passot/filamentation/AWfil.html)". 2004.