Introduction to Magneto-Hydrodynamics

Abstract

Magneto-Hydrodynamics (hereafter MHD) describes plasmas on large scales and more generally electrically conducting fluids. This description does not discriminate between the various fluids that constitute the medium. In laboratory, it allows to globally describe a plasma machine, for instance a toroidal nuclear fusion reactor like a Tokamak. In astrophysics it plays an essential role in the description of cosmic objects and their environments, as well as the media, such as the interstellar or the intergalactic medium. A set of phenomena are specific to MHD description. Some of them will be presented in this lecture such as the tension effect, confinement, magnetic diffusivity, magnetic field freezing, Alfvén waves, magneto-sonic waves, reconnection. A celebrated phenomenon of MHD will not be introduced in this brief lecture, namely the dynamo effect.