Resonant and phase-mixed magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar atmosphere

The magnetic field in the solar atmosphere is not uniformly distributed but organized in typical configurations: e.g., intense flux tubes in the photo sphere, magnetic loops in the corona, plumes in the solar wind. Each of the se magnetic configurations can support magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and observations show that this is indeed the case. The intrinsic inhomogeneity of the magnetic configurations enables local (slow and) Alfven waves to ex ist on individual magnetic surfaces. These local Alfven waves provide a mea ns for dissipating wave energy which is far more efficient in a weakly diss ipative plasma than classical resistive or viscous MHD wave damping in a un iform plasma. This property has inspired a lot of work on the dissipation o f driven Alfven waves and wave heating in the solar atmosphere by resonant absorption and phase mixing. This review concentrates on the interaction be tween fast magnetosonic waves, local Alfven waves and quasimodes and discus ses recent results on the time evolution of phase mixing of resonant waves driven by footpoint motions. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.