Solar-terrestrial physics describes processes that generate the solar wind, the physics of geospace and the Earth's magnetosphere, and the interaction of magnetospheric processes with the upper atmosphere. Many of these processes are mediated by long period wave phenomena, usually treated by magnetohydrodynamic methods. This book provides a coherent account of the important theoretical ideas that underpin the current understanding of ultra-low-frequency wave phenomena in solar-terrestrial physics and that may be used to address future problems. It includes brief accounts of observational results as well as appendices that describe some key mathematical techniques and magnetic field properties in detail.

A.D.M. Walker

Solar-terrestrial physics deals with phenomena in the region of space between the surface of the Sun and the upper atmosphere of the Earth, a region dominated by matter in a plasma state. This area of physics describes processes that generate the solar wind, the physics of geospace and the Earth's magnetosphere, and the interaction of magnetospheri

I Fundamentals of MHD Wave Theory Basic Ideas of Thermodynamics and Electrodynamics The Magnetohydrodynamic Approximation Single Particle Motion in Electromagnetic Fields Kinetic Theory of Plasmas Fluid Behaviour Equilibrium and Steady State Conditions Harmonic Plane Waves in a Uniform, Loss-Free Plasma Collisionless damping of MHD waves Wave Packets and Energy Propagation in Uniform Media Reflection and Transmission at Sharp Boundaries in Stationary Media Slowly Varying Media II The Solar-Terrestrial Environment The Sun, the Solar Wind and the Magnetosphere Observations of ULF Oscillations and Waves III Waves in Solar Terrestrial Physics MHD Wave Equations in Non-Uniform Media Propagation in a Plane Stratified Medium Standing Waves and Oscillations in a Cold Plasma Standing Waves and Oscillations in a Compressional Plasma Field Line Resonance in Low Pressure Plasmas Mathematics of Field Line Resonance in Compressible Media Cavity Oscillations and Waveguide Modes Waves in Moving Media Shock Waves Magnetohydrodynamic Instability Wave-Particle Interactions and Kinetic Effects Last Words IV Appendices A Some Mathematical Techniques B Properties of the Geomagnetic Field C Fourier Analysis Techniques D Wave Analysis Techniques