A DISCRETE MODEL FOR MHD INCORPORATING THE HALL TERM

Medium frequency plasma behavior can be investigated using an MHD model with the addition of the Hall term to the Ohm’s law. Such a model embodies some electron dynamics and can therefore be used to investigate physically more complicated processes than a conventional MHD model can. Form the modeling standpoint, this model works on the ion time scale and therefore avoids the shorter electron time scale associated with a two-fluid approach. Here, we present one such model with its two as well as three-dimensional versions, test it thoroughly against the linear analytic theory, and finally present an application of the model to the study of the plasma waves generated at a solar wind cometary gas interface. © 1993 by Academic Press, Inc.