On the Nonlinear Effects of Magnetoacoustic Perturbations in Optically Thin Quasi-Isentropic Plasmas

Nonlinear effects of planar magnetosound perturbations in a plasma are discussed. Plasma is non-adiabatic due to optically thin radiation and external heating. For these reasons, thermal instability of a plasma may appear which makes it acoustically active. The plasma is assumed to be initially homogeneous ideal gas with infinite electrical conductivity permeated by a straight magnetic field which is orthogonal to the trajectories of gas particles. The instantaneous dynamic equations which describe nonlinear effects of intense sound in quasi-isentropic plasma, are derived. Nonlinear interaction of periodic and aperiodic magnetoacoustic perturbations with the non-wave modes, are discussed. The conclusions concern dissipative or active behavior of magnetoacoustic perturbations which is determined by the kind of the heating-cooling function.