dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaOn the probability distribution function of small scale interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations
| Authors | R. Bruno, B. Bavassano, V. Carbone, L. Primavera, F. Malara, L. Sorriso-Valvo, P. Veltri |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0409056 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0409056 |
| DOI | 10.5194/angeo-22-3751-2004 |
Abstract
In spite of a large number of papers dedicated to study MHD turbulence in the solar wind there are still some simple questions which have never been sufficiently addressed like: a)do we really know how the magnetic field vector orientation fluctuates in space? b) what is the statistics followed by the orientation of the vector itself? c) does the statistics change as the wind expands into the interplanetary space? A better understanding of these points can help us to better characterize the nature of interplanetary fluctuations and can provide useful hints to investigators who try to numerically simulate MHD turbulence. This work follows a recent paper presented by the same authors. This work follows a recent paper presented by some of the authors which shows that these fluctuations might resemble a sort of random walk governed by a Truncated Leevy Flight statistics. However, the limited statistics used in that paper did not allow final conclusions but only speculative hypotheses. In this work we aim to address the same problem using a more robust statistics which on one hand forces us not to consider velocity fluctuations but, on the other hand allows us to establish the nature of the governing statistics of magnetic fluctuations with more confidence. In addition, we show how features similar to those found in the present statistical analysis for the fast speed streams of solar wind, are qualitatively recovered in numerical simulations of the parametric instability. This might offer an alternative viewpoint for interpreting the questions raised above.
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"abstract": "In spite of a large number of papers dedicated to study MHD turbulence in the\nsolar wind there are still some simple questions which have never been\nsufficiently addressed like: a)do we really know how the magnetic field vector\norientation fluctuates in space? b) what is the statistics followed by the\norientation of the vector itself? c) does the statistics change as the wind\nexpands into the interplanetary space? A better understanding of these points\ncan help us to better characterize the nature of interplanetary fluctuations\nand can provide useful hints to investigators who try to numerically simulate\nMHD turbulence. This work follows a recent paper presented by the same authors.\nThis work follows a recent paper presented by some of the authors which shows\nthat these fluctuations might resemble a sort of random walk governed by a\nTruncated Leevy Flight statistics. However, the limited statistics used in that\npaper did not allow final conclusions but only speculative hypotheses. In this\nwork we aim to address the same problem using a more robust statistics which on\none hand forces us not to consider velocity fluctuations but, on the other hand\nallows us to establish the nature of the governing statistics of magnetic\nfluctuations with more confidence. In addition, we show how features similar to\nthose found in the present statistical analysis for the fast speed streams of\nsolar wind, are qualitatively recovered in numerical simulations of the\nparametric instability. This might offer an alternative viewpoint for\ninterpreting the questions raised above.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0409056",
"authors": [
"R. Bruno",
"B. Bavassano",
"V. Carbone",
"L. Primavera",
"F. Malara",
"L. Sorriso-Valvo",
"P. Veltri"
],
"categories": [
"physics.space-ph",
"astro-ph",
"nlin.CD",
"physics.data-an",
"physics.plasm-ph"
],
"doi": "10.5194/angeo-22-3751-2004",
"title": "On the probability distribution function of small scale interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0409056"
},
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