Dissipation-scale turbulence in the solar wind

G. G. Howes, S. C. Cowley, W. Dorland, G. W. Hammett, E. Quataert, A. A. Schekochihin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a cascade model for turbulence in weakly collisional plasmas that follows the nonlinear cascade of energy from the large scales of driving in the MHD regime to the small scales of the kinetic Alfvén wave regime where the turbulence is dissipated by kinetic processes. Steady-state solutions of the model for the slow solar wind yield three conclusions: (1) beyond the observed break in the magnetic energy spectrum, one expects an exponential cut-off; (2) the widely held interpretation that this dissipation range obeys power-law behavior is an artifact of instrumental sensitivity limitations; and, (3) over the range of parameters relevant to the solar wind, the observed variation of dissipation range spectral indices from -2 to -4 is naturally explained by the varying effectiveness of Landau damping, from an undamped prediction of -7/3 to a strongly damped index around -4.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationTURBULENCE AND NONLINEAR PROCESSES IN ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS
Subtitle of host publication6th Annual International Astrophysics Conference
Pages3-8
Number of pages6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes
EventTURBULENCE AND NONLINEAR PROCESSES IN ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS: 6th Annual International Astrophysics Conference - Oahu, HI, United States
Duration: Mar 16 2007Mar 22 2007

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume932
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Other

OtherTURBULENCE AND NONLINEAR PROCESSES IN ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS: 6th Annual International Astrophysics Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOahu, HI
Period3/16/073/22/07

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Keywords

  • Gyrokinetics
  • Kinetic damping
  • Plasma turbulence
  • Solar wind

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