Transverse waves and discontinuities in an ideal magnetized fluid

Suppose that a constant and uniform field B₀ exists within an ideal fluid medium, that is, a medium in which dissipative processes are absent. If this medium is a conducting one and its magnetization and polarization can be neglected, then finite perturbations of the transverse (perpendicular to B₀) components of the velocity and the magnetic field propagate a-long b₀ with a constant velocity without change of form 1], These plane transverse waves, called Alfven waves, are linear and cannot lead to discontinuities if there are no discontinuities in the initial conditions. In this paper we shall consider plane transverse waves in an ideal fluid medium which is not only electrically conducting, but which can also be magnetized by the magnetic field. In such a medium transverse waves are no longer linear and they can develop into jumps in the magnitudes of the field and the velocity. Like Alfven waves, these waves leave the density of the medium unchanged, so that they can also exist in an incompressible fluid. This circumstance is reflected in the nature of the discontinuity, which is analyzed in Section 5.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 116–124, November–December, 1973.The author thanks A. G. Kulikovskii and A. A. Barmin for their valuable remarks contributed during discussions of the work.