Linear damping of magneto-acoustic waves in two-fluid partially ionized plasmas (2510.14575v1)

Abstract: Magneto-acoustic waves in partially ionized plasmas are damped due to elastic collisions between charged and neutral particles. Here, we use a linearized two-fluid model to describe the influence of this collisional interaction on the properties of small-amplitude waves propagating in a uniform and static background. Mainly focusing on the case of waves generated by a periodic driver, we perform a detailed study of the dependence of the wavenumbers and damping rates on the ionization degree of the plasma, the strength of the collisional coupling, and the angle of propagation. We describe how the different wave modes (fast, slow, acoustic) are related to the individual properties of each fluid in a wide range of physical conditions. In addition, we derive analytical approximations for the damping rates due to charge-neutral collisions in the limits of weak and strong coupling and check their range of validity in comparison with the exact numerical results. These approximations can be generally applied to a large variety of astrophysical and laboratory partially ionized plasmas, but here we also discuss the particular application to plasmas only composed of hydrogen.