English

A Universal Law for Solar-Wind Turbulence at Electron Scales

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2015-05-19 v1 Space Physics

Abstract

The interplanetary magnetic fluctuation spectrum obeys a Kolmogorovian power law at scales above the proton inertial length and gyroradius which is well regarded as an inertial range. Below these scales a power law index around 2.5-2.5 is often measured and associated to nonlinear dispersive processes. Recent observations reveal a third region at scales below the electron inertial length. This region is characterized by a steeper spectrum that some refer to it as the dissipation range. We investigate this range of scales in the electron magnetohydrodynamic approximation and derive an exact and universal law for a third-order structure function. This law can predict a magnetic fluctuation spectrum with an index of 11/3-11/3 which is in agreement with the observed spectrum at the smallest scales. We conclude on the possible existence of a third turbulence regime in the solar wind instead of a dissipation range as recently postulated.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1008.3513,
  title  = {A Universal Law for Solar-Wind Turbulence at Electron Scales},
  author = {R. Meyrand and S. Galtier},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.3513},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

11 pages, will appear in Astrophys. J