Electrostatic Short-Scale Termination of Solar-Wind Turbulence

Journal Article · Fri Jun 05 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.102.225001· OSTI ID:21325532

Valentini, Francesco; Veltri, Pierluigi ^[1]

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica and CNISM, Universita della Calabria, 87036 Rende (Italy)

Recent hybrid Vlasov simulations [F. Valentini et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 025006 (2008)] have shown that the short-scale termination of solar-wind turbulence is characterized by the occurrence of longitudinal electrostatic fluctuations. Beside the ion-acoustic branch, in agreement with solar-wind observations, a novel branch of acoustic-like waves, with phase velocity close to the ion thermal speed, has been recovered in the simulations. In this Letter, we show that these waves turn out to be Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal-like solutions of the hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell equations, driven by kinetic effects of resonant particle trapping. We also discuss the development of the solar-wind turbulent spectra across the ion inertial length and especially stress the fact that turbulence privileges acoustic paths to develop towards short wavelengths.

• OSTI ID: 21325532
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 102; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
IONS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
PHASE VELOCITY
SIMULATION
SOLAR WIND