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STATISTICS OF TURBULENT FIELD VARIATIONS, NON-GAUSSIANITY AND INTERMITTENCY

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
Statistics of magnetic field and velocity variations are important to the study of turbulence. Their departure from Gaussianity on the short separation scales has long been recognized and ascribed to intermittency. Non-Gaussian log-normal statistics of field-line separations are now predicted, however, from simple nonfluctuating turbulence Fourier spectra that do not model any intermittency, and one may wonder how this result may impact our interpretation of the statistics of field variations. It is shown in this paper how the intermittency of the turbulence can be taken into account to estimate the distributions of field-line separations and of field variations from the simple Fourier-spectra calculations. The first accurate theory/modeling predictions for the observed in situ distributions of turbulent field variations are thereby made, free of parameter adjustment. Magnetic field data from Helios 2 and Wind are used for the validation. Because the field variations are measured between points of constant separation and not between real field lines, intermittency remains the main cause for the observed non-Gaussianity of the statistics of field variations on the short scales, even if spatial limitations and/or short-scale phase correlations could also contribute to the deviations from Gaussianity.
OSTI ID:
21300640
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 696; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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