Excitation of surface waves in magnetohydrodynamics

A study is made of the transient development of two-dimensional linearized surface waves generated by a localized steady pressure distribution on the interface between a uniformly streaming, semi-infinite, infinitely conducting plasma subjected to a gravitational field and the confining vacuum magnetic field. The linearized equations associated with an initial-value problem are used to obtain the large-time asymptotic behaviour of the disturbance in the far field. (author)