Parametric Decay of "Kinetic Alfvén Wave" and Its Application to Plasma Heating

Because of its electrostatic properties, the rate of the parametric growth of the kinetic Alfv\'en wave [Alfv\'en wave with λ≡k_⊥²cₛ²ωci²~O(1)] is shown to be larger than that of the classic result by a factor of λωciωA, where ωci and ωA are the ion-cyclotron and the Alfv\'en frequencies, k_⊥ is the perpendicular wave number, and cₛ is the ion sound speed. This fact can be utilized to heat a plasma with typical tokamak parameters.