SOLAR WIND TURBULENT SPECTRUM AT PLASMA KINETIC SCALES

By O. Alexandrova, C. Lacombe, A. Mangeney, R. Grappin, M. Maksimović. 2012

163 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The description of the turbulent spectrum of magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind in the kinetic range of scales is not yet completely established. Here, we perform a statistical study of 100 spectra measured by the STAFF instrument on the Cluster mission, which allows us to resolve turbulent fluctuations from ion scales down to a fraction of electron scales, i.e., from ∼102 km to ∼300 m. We show that for k⊥ρe ∈ [0.03, 3] (which corresponds approximately to the frequency in the spacecraft frame f ∈ [3, 300] Hz), all the observed spectra can be described by a general law E(k⊥)∝k−8/3⊥exp (− k⊥ρe), where k⊥ is the wavevector component normal to the background magnetic field and ρe the electron Larmor radius. This exponential tail found in the solar wind seems compatible with the Landau damping of magnetic fluctuations onto electrons.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/772cf9cb84bf81cda0276c25921833195f12b5da

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. C. Chen
2. O. Alexandrova
3. S. Bale
4. L. Sorriso-Valvo
5. T. Horbury
6. A. Retinò

In Molecular Biology

1. C. Chen
2. T. Horbury
3. S. Bale

Citations in the corpus

• SCALING OF THE ELECTRON DISSIPATION RANGE OF SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE (2013, methodology): “Alexandrova et al. (2012) have confirmed that (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.) result over a larger data samples (100 spectra).”
• Solar Wind Turbulence and the Role of Ion Instabilities (2013, background): “A statistical study of the solar wind magnetic spectra at high frequencies (f > 3 Hz) shows that α1 does not vary a lot, α1 = 2.86 ± 0.08 (Alexandrova et al. 2012).”