Structure of driven Alfve'n waves with oblique magnetic field and dissipation

The quasi-resonant behavior of linear Alfven waves in one-dimensional magne tized weakly resistive plasmas with the slightly inclined equilibrium magne tic field is studied. The analysis concentrates on the behavior of the gamm a-component of the velocity, nu, which is the component perpendicular both to the inhomogeneity direction and to the equilibrium magnetic field, and t he z-component of the velocity, w, which is the component along the inhomog eneity direction. It is shown that the behavior of nu and w is described by the functions F(sigma; Lambda) and G(sigma; Lambda), where s is the dimens ionless distance along the inhomogeneity direction and the parameter Lambda characterizes the relative importance of resistivity and the magnetic fiel d inclination near the quasi-resonant position. The functions F( sigma; Lam bda) and G(sigma; Lambda) are generalizations of the F and G functions intr oduced by Goossens, Ruderman, and Hollweg [Sol. Phys. 157, 75 (1995)] and c oincide with them for Lambda = 0. The behavior of F( sigma; Lambda) and G(s igma; Lambda) is studied numerically for different values of Lambda. It cha nges from monotonic to oscillatory when Lambda is increased. It is shown th at the connection formulas giving the jumps of w and the perturbation of th e total pressure across the quasi-resonant layer and the rate of energy dis sipation in the quasi-resonant layer are independent of the inclination ang le. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1070- 664X(99)00703- X].