Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsh53a..07o&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SH53A-07
Physics
Plasma Physics
[7859] Space Plasma Physics / Transport Processes, [7863] Space Plasma Physics / Turbulence, [7867] Space Plasma Physics / Wave/Particle Interactions
Scientific paper
Parker's original solar wind paper [1] noted that there were likely to be velocity and magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind. In the subsequent 50 years many efforts have been made to understand the spatial transport of MHD-scale fluctuations in the solar wind. Unfortunately, the behavior is yet to be completely understood. For example, even with the approximation of purely radial transport there are numerous effects that may need to be represented to achieve agreement with observations. These include wave and turbulence activity, forcing processes (e.g., stream shear, pickup ion driving), and the spatial and spectral anisotropy of the fluctuations [e.g., Ref 2]. Here we present a model for the transport of solar wind fluctuations which treats them as two interacting components, specifically quasi-two-dimensional turbulence and a wave-like piece [e.g. Ref 3]. Quantities solved for include the energy, cross helicity, and characteristic transverse lengthscale of each component, plus the proton temperature. The development of the model will be outlined and numerical solutions will be compared to spacecraft observations out to 70 AU. An advantage of this new model, compared to previous single-component models, is that it incorporates a more physically realistic treatment of fluctuations induced by pickup ions. In particular, the pickup ions inject energy into the wave-like component and this leads to improved agreement with observed values of the correlation length, while maintaining good observational accord with the energy, cross helicity, and proton temperature. [1] E. N. Parker, Dynamics of the Interplanetary Gas and Magnetic Fields, Astrophys. J. 128, 664 (1958). [2] B. Breech, W.H. Matthaeus, J. Minnie, J.W. Bieber, S. Oughton, C.W. Smith, and P.A. Isenberg. Turbulence transport throughout the heliosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 113, A08105, doi: 10.1029/2007JA012711 (2008). [3] C.-Y. Tu and E. Marsch. A Model of Solar Wind Fluctuations with Two Components: Alfven Waves and Convective Structures. J. Geophys. Res. 98, 1257 (1993).
Breech Benjamin A.
Matthaeus William H.
Oughton Sean
Smith Walter C.
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