Journal
FRONTIERS IN PHYSICS
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fphy.2021.613759
Keywords
Interplanetary medium; interplanetary turbulence; solar wind; magnetic fields; Heliosphere
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Funding
- Italian MIUR-PRIN Grant [2017APKP7T]
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The study of low-frequency fluctuations in the interplanetary medium has revealed universal scaling behavior representing an underlying energy cascade, while the interpretation of high-frequency plasma fluctuations remains a challenge for theoretical modeling. This paper describes high frequency fluctuations in the interplanetary space using a Brownian-like approach and successfully replicates the main features of the observed magnetic fluctuations spectrum. The Fluctuation-Dissipation Relation derived in the model suggests a power law between dissipation rate and temperature, indicating Landau damping as the main mechanism of dissipation in solar wind plasma.
Low-frequency fluctuations in the interplanetary medium have been extensively investigated and described in the framework of turbulence, and the observed universal scaling behavior represents a clear signature of the underlying energy cascade. On the contrary, the interpretation of observations of plasma fluctuations at high frequencies, where wave-wave coupling, collisionless dissipation, and anomalous plasma heating play a key role, still represents a challenge for theoretical modeling. In this paper the high frequency fluctuations occurring in the interplanetary space are described through a Brownian-like approach, where the plasma dynamics at small scales is described through a stochastic process. It is shown that a simple model based on this framework is able to successfully reproduce the main features of the spectrum of the observed magnetic fluctuations. Moreover, the Fluctuation-Dissipation Relation, derived by our model, leads to a power law between dissipation rate and temperature, which is compatible with the occurrence of Landau damping, interpreted thus as the main mechanism of dissipation in the solar wind plasma.
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