Efficiency of MHD Wave Generation in Weakly Ionized Atmospheres

Abstract

Generation of Alfv\'en and slow magneto-acoustic waves in weakly ionized atmospheres by excitation of the charges-only component of the two fluid (charges and neutrals) plasma is shown to be more or less efficient depending on the energy fraction initially allocated to the three stationary "flow differential" modes which characterize the inter-species drift. This is explained via detailed analysis of the full ten-dimensional spectral description of two-fluid linear magnetohydrodynamics. Excitation via the velocity of the charges only is found to be very inefficient, in accord with previous results, whilst excitation via the magnetic field perturbation alone is highly efficient. All ten eigenvalues and eigenvectors are presented analytically in the high collision frequency regime.