Modified convective cells in plasmas

Two coupled equations describing the nonlinear evolution of modified convective cells with a finite but small wavenumber parallel to the external magnetic field B are derived. It is found that, for oblique propagation, the electrostatic and magnetostatic convective mode do not decouple as in the strictly perpendicular case. Various aspects of the governing equations are investigated. In the weakly nonlinear limit, a three-wave interaction study shows the possibility of dual energy cascading, or of cascading to larger wavenumbers only, depending on the direction of the parallel wavenumber component of the pump wave. Furthermore, solitary wave solutions in the form of double vortices are considered. (author)