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Spectral characteristics of the collisional stationary Alfvén wave in the laboratory and space regimes

Solutions of the collisional stationary Alfvén (StA) wave equations are presented for both laboratory and space plasma parameter regimes. The stationary inertial Alfvén (StIA) wave is a time-independent electromagnetic structure generated by plasma convection (Vd = E/B0) across field-aligned current sheets in a cold (Te = Ti = 0) background plasma (Knudsen 1996 J. Geophys. Res. 101 10761). The StIA wave can accelerate electrons in the magnetic field-aligned direction to speeds in excess of the local Alfvén speed. Recently, the model of the StIA wave was generalized to include the effects of electron and ion collisional resistivity, as well as non-zero thermal pressure (Finnegan et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas at press). Here, the laboratory-relevant regime is evaluated. Solutions to the StA wave equations are presented for plasma parameters typical of the main-discharge and after-glow plasmas of the LArge Plasma Device at UCLA's Basic Plasma Science Facility. Cases for which the background plasma density is either enhanced or depleted by the StA wave are distinguished. Coulomb collisions are predicted to be important in damping the StA wave in the after-glow plasma and in supporting solitary density enhancements in the main-discharge plasma. The space regime is also evaluated. We present solutions to the StA wave equations for typical plasma parameters associated with the topside ionosphere and the solar corona. For typical plasma parameters in the topside ionosphere (Alt.∼1500 km), StA wave solutions are characterized by the parallel component of electric field E∥ and plasma density, the spatial modulation of which are in good agreement with measurements associated with Alfvénic structures made previously by the Freja satellite. For plasma parameters typical of the solar corona, it is shown that the StA wave may provide a physical mechanism for generating small scale (∼10 m across), adjacent, magnetic-field-aligned, current channels of alternating polarity in the solar corona.