A linear theory of waves in partially ionized space plasmas

Partially ionized plasmas consist mainly of electrons, ions and significant neutral atoms. The nonlinear interactions amongst these species take place predominantly through direct collision or charge exchange processes. These interactions modify linear and non linear properties of the partially ionized plasma. In this work, we develop a one dimensional linear theory to investigate evolution of waves. In our model, the electrons and ions are described by a single fluid compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model and are coupled self-consistently to the neutral fluid via compressible hydrodynamic equations. Based on our self-consistent model, we investigate the propagation speed of Alfvenic modes in space and astrophysical plasma, interactions with the neutral fluid, growth rate, damping rate.