Filamentation of Alfvén waves associated with transverse perturbation

This paper presents an investigation of the growth of a Gaussian perturbation on a uniform plane wave front of an Alfven wave (AW). The effect of the nonlinear coupling between the main AW and the perturbation has been studied. The dynamical equation for the field of the perturbation has been established and its semianalytical solution has been obtained in low (β≪me/mi) and high (β≫me/mi) β cases (β≪1). The critical field of the perturbation has been evaluated for the given size of the perturbation for its filamentation process (hot spot formation). Nonlinear evolution of the perturbation into filamentary structures and its dependence on various parameters of the solar wind and corona has been investigated in detail.