Whistler Wave Cascade in Solar Wind Plasma

Abstract

Nonlinear three dimensional, time dependent, fluid simulations of whistler wave turbulence are performed to investigate role of whistler waves in solar wind plasma turbulence in which characteristic turbulent fluctuations are characterized typically by the frequency and length scales that are respectively bigger than ion gyro frequency and smaller than ion gyro radius. The electron inertial length is an intrinsic length scale in whistler wave turbulence that distinguishably divides the high frequency solar wind turbulent spectra into scales smaller and bigger than the electron inertial length. Our simulations find that the dispersive whistler modes evolve entirely differently in the two regimes. While the dispersive whistler wave effects are stronger in the large scale regime, they do not influence the spectral cascades which are describable by a Kolmogorov-like $k^{-7/3}$ spectrum. By contrast, the small scale turbulent fluctuations exhibit a Navier-Stokes like evolution where characteristic turbulent eddies exhibit a typical $k^{-5/3}$ hydrodynamic turbulent spectrum. By virtue of equipartition between the wave velocity and magnetic fields, we quantify the role of whistler waves in the solar wind plasma fluctuations.

Paper contains 3 figures. The paper is accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal

References in corpus (3)

• Small Scale Energy Cascade of the Solar Wind Turbulence
• The Anisotropy of Electron MHD Turbulence
• Theory and Simulations of Whistler Wave Propagation

Cited by in corpus (11)

• The Nature of Subproton Scale Turbulence in the Solar Wind
• High-resolution hybrid simulations of kinetic plasma turbulence at proton scales
• Subproton-scale cascades in solar wind turbulence: driven hybrid-kinetic simulations
• Co-existence of Whistler Waves with Kinetic Alfven Wave Turbulence for the High-beta Solar Wind Plasma
• Spectral features of solar wind turbulent plasma
• Turbulent electromagnetic fields at sub-proton scales: two-fluid and full-kinetic plasma simulations
• Spectral breaks of Alfvenic turbulence in a collisionless plasma
• Three-dimensional simulations of solar wind turbulence with the hybrid code CAMELIA
• Non-modal approach to linear theory: marginal stability and the dissipation of turbulent fluctuations
• Inhomogeneous whistler turbulence in low beta space plasmas
• Spectral Properties of Electromagnetic Turbulence in Plasmas