University of California San Diego, Department of Physics
Winter 2012 Physics 218B
Lecture Notes

Basics of MHD - posted 9 January 2012

Conservation Laws in MHD - posted 9 January 2012

Energy Principle and Stability - posted 9 January 2012

Simple Ideas in Non-Ideal MHD I - posted 9 January 2012

Non-Ideal MHD II - posted 9 January 2012

Nonlinear Waves, Shocks and Turbulence - An Introduction - posted 9 January 2012

Basics of Nonlinear Plasma Theory I - posted 9 January 2012

Reduced MHD - posted 9 January 2012

Quasilinear Theory I - posted 30 January 2012

Quasilinear Theory II - posted 30 January 2012

See Chapter 3 for Quasilinear Theory Discussion - posted 30 January 2012

Homogenization and Expulsion - posted 16 February 2012

Rayleigh-Taylor, Part 1 - posted 27 February 2012

Rayleigh-Taylor, Part 2 - posted 27 February 2012

"Nonlinear Plasma" by "Wave Kinetics" - posted 6 March 2012

Nonlinear Waves - posted 6 March 2012

Stochastic Magnetic Fields and Relaxation - posted 20 March 2012


SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL FOR 218B

"Hydromagnetic Stability of a Plasmas"- B.B. Kadomtsev

"MHD Description of Plasma" - Russell M. Kulsrud

"The Variational Principle for Problems of Ideal Magnetohydrodynamic Stability"- Ira B. Bernstein

"Relaxation and Magnetic Reconnection in Plasmas"- J.B. Taylor

"On Steady Laminar Flow with Closed Streamlines at Large Reynolds Number" - G.K. Batchelor

"How Rapidly is a Passive Scalar Mixed Within Closed Streamlines?" - P.B. Rhines and W.R. Young

Electron Heat Transport in a Tokamak with Destroyed Magnetic Surfaces" - A.B. Rechester and M.N. Rosenbluth

A New Look at the Instability of a Stratified Horizontal Magnetic Field - D.W. Hughes and F. Cattaneo

Magnetic Buoyancy and the Boussinesq Approximation - E.A. Spiegel and N.O. Weiss

PV Homogenization - Peter B. Rhines and William R. Young

The Expulsion of Magnetic Flux by Eddies - N.O. Weiss

Supplementary Material on Turbulence

Turbulence theory is a huge and vital subject. In 218B, we only scratch the surface. For additional reading, see below:

A.) Fluid/Navier-Stokes Turbulence

i.) "Turbulence: The Legacy of A.N. Kolmogorov", - U. Frisch, C.U.P. - superb, short book

ii.) Kulsrud: 11.7, 11.8 - summary of basics

iii.) Diamond, Itoh, Itoh: 2.3 - summary of basics

iv.) Frisch, Sulem, Nelkin '78 - good basic OV of cascades and fractal intermittency. Accessible

A Simple Dynamically Model of Intermittent Fully Developed Turbulence - Uriel Frisch, Pierre-Louis Sulem and Mark Nelkin

v.) Falkovich, et al., 2001 - review of particle dispersion in turbulence. Difficult, but worth it.

Particles and Fields in Fluid Turbulence - G. Falkovich, K. Gawedzki and M. Vergassola

B. MHD Turbulence

i.) Kulsrud: 11.9 - basics

ii.) Diamond, Itoh, Itoh: 9.1, 9.2 - basics; 9.3 - steepening of Alfven waves

iii.) Goldreich, Sridhar '95, '97: basic papers. GS'97 is particularly accessible

Toward a Theory of Interstellar Turbulence II. Strong Alfvenic Turbulence - P. Goldreich and S. Sridhar

Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence Revisited - P. Goldreich and S. Sridhar

iv.) Pouquet, Frisch, Leorat '78: classic paper on strong MHD turbulence

Strong MHD Helical Turbulence and the Nonlinear Dynamo Effect - A. Pouquet, U. Frisch and J. Leorat

v.) Pouquet '78: classic paper on 2D MHD turbulence

On Two-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamics Turbulence - A. Pouquet

vi.) Galtier, et al., 2000: technical but useful paper on wave interactions in MHD turbulence

A Weak Turbulence Theory for Incompressible Magnetohydrodynamics - S. Galtier, S.V. Nazarenko, A.C. Newell and A. Pouquet

Supplementary Material on the Energy Principle

Some additional material may be found at:

For Kinetic Energy Princples: