Modeling RF waves in spatially dispersive inhomogeneus plasma using an iterative wavelet spectral method

Abstract

The wave equation for a spatially dispersive inhomogeneous magnetized plasma is given by an integro-differential equation. The effects caused by spatial dispersion in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the magnetic field are quite different. In this study, we show how to solve the wave equation using a newly developed iterative wavelet spectral method for two cases. In the first case, the method is applied to a propagating kinetic Alfvén wave in the perpendicular direction and solved to all orders in FLR. To conserve the kinetic energy flux, first order corrections in equilibrium gradients are used in the dielectric response tensor. In the second case, we verify the method for a fast wave minority heating scenario and study the up- and downshift in the parallel wave number.