"Complexity" and Anomalous Transport in Space Plasmas

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2744 Magnetotail, 2760 Plasma Convection, 2764 Plasma Sheet, 2772 Plasma Waves And Instabilities, 2788 Storms And Substorms

Scientific paper

Traditionally, analyses of space plasma processes are based on the MHD and/or Vlasov continuum formulations (or analogous numerical simulations). Associated with such descriptions are the concepts of magnetic field lines, streamlines and other continuum variables such as velocity, electric and magnetic fields, plasma and charge densities, as well as currents. The dynamical state of the system is to be understood in terms of a topology characterized by the smooth variations of such entities with space and time. Most of the observable space plasma processes, however, generally exhibit discernible turbulent fluctuations of such entities. The standard approach to the analysis of dynamical turbulent states is based on the concepts of linear instabilities, nonlinear growths and interactions of wave modes. In spite of the fact that the "basic" equations (MHD and Vlasov equations, etc.) contain strong nonlinearities, one is nevertheless led to believe that turbulent motions may be understood by expressing the continuum quantities described above in Fourier modes (plane wave) and then consider the nonlinear interactions among them by requiring them to satisfy the "basic" equations. This has led to decades of futile search for a tractable and workable theory of "turbulence" in space plasma research (and, indeed, in many other fields as well). Most of the observed turbulent space plasma processes are intrinsically intermittent with at least two distinctly different time scales, one time scale associated with the intermittency which is very short and an evolutionary time scale which is much longer in duration. This has led researchers to suggest that the behavior for such type of space plasma processes can generally evolve into a "complex" state of long-range correlated fluctuations over many scales and display the scale free phenomenon of forced and/or self-organized criticality; thereby inducing "fluctuation-induced" anomalous transports and nonlinear instabilities. Examples related to the behavior of the plasma sheet and the auroral zone will be described to illustrate such space plasma processes of "complexity".

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