This proposal addresses issues pertaining to low-frequency MHD wave generation and propagation in the magnetosheath-magnetopause region. This is a theoretical investigation focused on the conditions in the magnetosheath region during periods of quasi-perpendicular bow shocks. Four interrelated topics will be considered: (a) MHD wave activity in the magnetosheath; (b) field-line resonance and mode conversion (to kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) at the magnetopause; (c) comparison of theoretically predicted wave properties and spectra with observations in the magnetosheath and mangetopause; (d) time-dependent patchy reconnection and transport driven by KAWs. Analytical work, supported by numerics where needed, rather than full numerical simulations, is envisaged, using a kinetic MHD model developed by the PI. In this model, the plasma is treated in terms of a cold core component and a hot component that is described kinetically.
