Magnetosperic Multiscale (MMS) observation of plasma velocity-space cascade: Hermite representation and theory
Plasma Physics
2017-11-22 v1 Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Abstract
Plasma turbulence is investigated using high-resolution ion velocity distributions measured by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) in the Earth's magnetosheath. The particle distribution is highly structured, suggesting a cascade-like process in velocity space. This complex velocity space structure is investigated using a three-dimensional Hermite transform that reveals a power law distribution of moments. In analogy to hydrodynamics, a Kolmogorov approach leads directly to a range of predictions for this phase-space cascade. The scaling theory is in agreement with observations, suggesting a new path for the study of plasma turbulence in weakly collisional space and astrophysical plasmas.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1707.08180,
title = {Magnetosperic Multiscale (MMS) observation of plasma velocity-space cascade: Hermite representation and theory},
author = {S. Servidio and A. Chasapis and W. H. Matthaeus and D. Perrone and F. Valentini and T. N. Parashar and P. Veltri and D. Gershman and C. T. Russell and B. Giles and S. A. Fuselier and T. D. Phan and J. Burch},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.08180},
year = {2017}
}