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DIRECTIONAL ALIGNMENT AND NON-GAUSSIAN STATISTICS IN SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
; ;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)
  2. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD (United States)
  3. Department of Mathematics, University of Waikato, Hamilton (New Zealand)
The magnetic and velocity field fluctuations in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence can be characterized by their directional alignment and induced electric field. These manifest as coherent spatial correlations which are measures of Alfvenicity and turbulence cascade strength, respectively. Solar wind observations and direct numerical simulations find that these distinctive correlations, caused by rapid relaxation processes that act to suppress nonlinearity, occur in localized spatial patches. This cellularization of magnetofluid turbulence is inconsistent with a superposition of Gaussian fields and could be related to spatial intermittency or other non-Gaussian statistics.
OSTI ID:
21612712
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 741; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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