Low-frequency waves in a high-beta collisionless plasma: polarization, compressibility and helicity

This paper considers the linear theory of waves near and below the ion cyclotron frequency in an isothermal electron-ion Vlasov plasma which is isotropic, homogeneous and magnetized. Numerical solutions of the full dispersion equation for the magnetosonic/whistler and Alfvén/ion cyclotron modes at βⁱ = 1·0 are presented, and the polarizations, compressibilities, helicities, ion Alfvén ratios and ion cross-helicities are exhibited and compared. At sufficiently large βⁱ and θ, the angle of propagation with respect to the magnetic field, the real part of the polarization of the Alfvén/ion cyclotron wave changes sign, so that, for such parameters, this mode is no longer left-hand polarized. The Alfvén/ion cyclotron mode becomes more compressive as the wavenumber ulereases, whereas the magnetosonic/whistler becomes more compressive with increasing θ, At oblique propagation, the helicity of both modes approaches zero in the long-wavelength limit; in contrast, the ion cross-helicity is of order unity for the Alfvén/ion cyclotron wave and decreases as θ increases for the magnetosonic/whistler mode.