Parallel Electric Field Spectrum of Solar Wind Turbulence
arXiv:1304.1189 · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/768/1/L10
Abstract
By searching through more than 10 satellite-years of THEMIS and Cluster data, three reliable examples of parallel electric field turbulence in the undisturbed solar wind have been found. The perpendicular and parallel electric field spectra in these examples have similar shapes and amplitudes, even at large scales (frequencies below the ion gyroscale) where Alfvenic turbulence with no parallel electric field component is thought to dominate. The spectra of the parallel electric field fluctuations are power laws with exponents near -5/3 below the ion scales (~ 0.1 Hz), and with a flattening of the spectrum in the vicinity of this frequency. At small scales (above a few Hz), the spectra are steeper than -5/3 with values in the range of -2.1 to -2.8. These steeper slopes are consistent with expectations for kinetic Alfven turbulence, although their amplitude relative to the perpendicular fluctuations is larger than expected.
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- Kinetic turbulence in fast 3D collisionless guide-field magnetic reconnection
- Bi-Directional Energy Cascades and the Origin of Kinetic Alfvénic and Whistler Turbulence in the Solar Wind
- Electron Two-stream Instability and Its Application in Solar and Heliophysics
- Sub-ion scale Compressive Turbulence in the Solar wind: MMS spacecraft potential observations
- How Nanoflares Produce Kinetic Waves, Nano-Type III Radio Bursts, and Non-Thermal Electrons in the Solar Wind
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