Generalized similarity and the physics of the outer scales in evolving solar wind magnetohydrodynamic inertial range turbulence as seen by ULYSSES

Details Generalized similarity and the physics of the outer scales in evolving solar wind magnetohydrodynamic inertial range turbulence as seen by ULYSSES Generalized similarity and the physics of the outer scales in evolving solar wind magnetohydrodynamic inertial range turbulence as seen by ULYSSES

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsh53a1303l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SH53A-1303

Physics

Plasma Physics

[2164] Interplanetary Physics / Solar Wind Plasma, [3270] Mathematical Geophysics / Time Series Analysis, [4475] Nonlinear Geophysics / Scaling: Spatial And Temporal, [7863] Space Plasma Physics / Turbulence

Scientific paper

ULYSSES spacecraft solar polar passes at solar minimum provide in-situ observations of evolving MHD turbulence in the solar wind under ideal conditions of fast quiet flow. We focus on two successive polar passes around solar minimum which provide extended intervals of quiet, fast solar wind at a range of radial distances and latitudes: the south polar pass of 1994 and the north polar pass of 1995, and passes during the recent unusually inactive solar minimum which in comparison show a decrease in the turbulent fluctuations of a factor of two in power. Fully developed inertial range turbulence has a characteristic statistical similarity property of quantities that characterize the flow, such as the magnetic field components Bk(t), so that the pth moment of fluctuations have power law dependence on scale τ such that <|Bk(t+τ)-Bk(t)|p> ~τζ(p). We instead find a generalized similarity <|Bk(t+τ)-Bk(t)|p >~g(τ)ζ(p). This extended or generalized similarity is a ubiquitous but not well understood feature seen in turbulence that is realized over a finite range of scales and here expresses the physics of the largest structures, that is, at the outer scale, of the evolving inertial range turbulence. We find that all of these ULYSSES observations, from both polar passes, share the same single function g(τ).If these observations are indeed characteristic of MHD turbulence evolving in- situ, then this quantifies for the first time a key aspect of the universal nature of evolving MHD turbulence in a system of finite size, with implications both for theoretical development, and for our understanding of the evolving solar wind.

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