Alfven wave collisions, the fundamental building block of plasma turbulence. III. Theory for experimental design

Turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas is governed by the nonlinear interactions between counterpropagating Alfven waves. Here, we present the theoretical considerations behind the design of the first laboratory measurement of an Alfven wave collision, the fundamental interaction underlying Alfvenic turbulence. By interacting a relatively large-amplitude, low-frequency Alfven wave with a counterpropagating, smaller-amplitude, higher-frequency Alfven wave, the experiment accomplishes the secular nonlinear transfer of energy to a propagating daughter Alfven wave. The predicted properties of the nonlinearly generated daughter Alfven wave are outlined, providing a suite of tests that can be used to confirm the successful measurement of the nonlinear interaction between counterpropagating Alfven waves in the laboratory. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.