Quantifying shear-induced wave transformations in the solar wind

The possibility of velocity shear-induced linear transformations of different magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar wind is studied both analytically and numerically. A quantitative analysis of the wave transformation processes for all possible plasma-$β$ regimes is performed. By applying the obtained criteria for effective wave coupling to the solar wind parameters, we show that velocity shear-induced linear transformations of Alfvén waves into magneto-acoustic waves could effectively take place for the relatively low-frequency Alfvén waves in the energy containing interval. The obtained results are in a good qualitative agreement with the observed features of density perturbations in the solar wind.

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