Eur. Phys. J. B 35, 291-294 (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2003-00279-y

On the scattering of sound by a magnetic field in a MHD fluid

¹ Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, École Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France
² Centro para la Investigación Interdisciplinaria Avanzada en Ciencias de Materiales (CIMAT), and Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Av. Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, Chile

Received: 1 May 2003
Published online: 15 October 2003

Abstract

We investigate the effect of a localized magnetic field on the propagation of sound in an infinite fluid described by the magnetohydrodynamic equations (MHD). An externally imposed magnetic field will scatter an acoustic wave, and the scattered wave is related to the spatial structure of the magnetic field. Measuring it is thus a non-intrusive probe for the magnetic field. Simple examples likely to be encountered in practice are worked out, and estimates are given that suggest the practical feasability of this diagnostic tool in current MHD experiments.