Nonlinear dissipation of circularly polarized Alfven waves due to the beam-induced obliquely propagating waves

In the present study, the dissipation processes of circularly polarized Alfven waves in solar wind plasmas including beam components are numerically discussed by using a 2-D hybrid simulation code. Numerical results suggest that the parent Alfven waves are rapidly dissipated due to the presence of the beam-induced obliquely propagating waves, such as kinetic Alfven waves. The nonlinear wave-wave coupling is directly evaluated by using the induction equation for the parent wave. It is also observed both in the 1-D and 2-D simulations that the presence of large amplitude Alfven waves strongly suppresses the beam instabilities. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4748296]