2010/02/28 by C. H. K. Chen, T. S. Horbury, A. A. Schekochihin +5 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Atomic physics #Classical mechanics #Computational physics #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Field (mathematics) #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Geometry #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Kinetic energy #Magnetic field #Meteorology #Optics #Perpendicular #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar wind #Turbulence #astro-ph.EP #physics.plasm-ph #physics.space-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.104.255002
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 255002 (2010) · 4 pages, 4 figures, replaced to match published version
openalex publication_date 2010/06/25 · arxiv created 2010/06/27 · arxiv updated 2012/08/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The anisotropy of turbulence in the fast solar wind, between the ion and electron gyroscales, is directly observed using a multispacecraft analysis technique. Second order structure functions are calculated at different angles to the local magnetic field, for magnetic fluctuations both perpendicular and parallel to the mean field. In both components, the structure function value at large angles to the field S_\ensuremath⊥ is greater than at small angles S_\ensuremath∥: in the perpendicular component S_\ensuremath⊥/S_\ensuremath∥=5\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi1 and in the parallel component S_\ensuremath⊥/S_\ensuremath∥>3, implying spatially anisotropic fluctuations, k_\ensuremath⊥>k_\ensuremath∥. The spectral index of the perpendicular component is \ensuremath-2.6 at large angles and \ensuremath-3 at small angles, in broad agreement with critically balanced whistler and kinetic Alfv'en wave predictions. For the parallel component, however, it is shallower than \ensuremath-1.9, which is considerably less steep than predicted for a kinetic Alfv'en wave cascade.