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On the conservation of cross helicity and wave action in solar-wind models with non-WKB Alfvén wave reflection

Chandran, BDG; Perez, JC; Verscharen, D; Klein, KG; Mallet, A; (2015) On the conservation of cross helicity and wave action in solar-wind models with non-WKB Alfvén wave reflection. The Astrophysical Journal , 811 (1) , Article 50. 10.1088/0004-637X/811/1/50. Green open access

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Abstract

The interaction between Alfvén-wave turbulence and the background solar wind affects the cross helicity (∫ d³x v · B) in two ways. Non-WKB reflection converts outward-propagating Alfvén waves into inward-propagating Alfvén waves and vice versa, and the turbulence transfers momentum to the background flow. When both effects are accounted for, the total cross helicity is conserved. In the special case that the background density and flow speed are independent of time, the equations of cross-helicity conservation and total-energy conservation can be combined to recover a well-known equation derived by Heinemann and Olbert that has been interpreted as a non-WKB generalization of wave-action conservation. This latter equation (in contrast to cross-helicity and energy conservation) does not hold when the background varies in time.

Type: Article
Title: On the conservation of cross helicity and wave action in solar-wind models with non-WKB Alfvén wave reflection
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/811/1/50
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/811/1/50
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) ; solar wind; Sun: corona; turbulence; waves
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10081142
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