Electron heating and acceleration by Alfven waves with varying phase velocity

The influence of the Alfven wave on the electron distribution function is studied by numerical simulations. A quasi-linear operator models the electron Landau damping of any plasma eigenmodes: kinetic Alfven, whistlers, and lower hybrid waves. Weak collisions are taken into account via 2D in the velocity space nonlinear Fokker-Planck kinetic equation. It is shown that due to the variation of phase velocity, as seen by the Alfven wave in the course of propagation in the nonuniform magnetic field, the noninductive current induced by the Alfven wave and the dissipated wave power may be several times larger in comparison with the case when the phase velocity is constant. The results might be applied in coronal regions, magnetosphere, tokamaks, stellarators. (orig.)