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Alexandrova O, Saur J, Lacombe C, et al. Universality of solar-wind turbulent spectrum from MHD to electron scales. Phys Rev Lett. 2009;103(16):165003doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165003.
Alexandrova, O., Saur, J., Lacombe, C., Mangeney, A., Mitchell, J., Schwartz, S. J., & Robert, P. (2009). Universality of solar-wind turbulent spectrum from MHD to electron scales. Physical review letters, 103(16), 165003. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165003
Alexandrova, O, et al. "Universality of solar-wind turbulent spectrum from MHD to electron scales." Physical review letters vol. 103,16 (2009): 165003. doi: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165003
Alexandrova O, Saur J, Lacombe C, Mangeney A, Mitchell J, Schwartz SJ, Robert P. Universality of solar-wind turbulent spectrum from MHD to electron scales. Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Oct 16;103(16):165003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165003. Epub 2009 Oct 14. PMID: 19905703.
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Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Oct 16;103(16):165003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165003. Epub 2009 Oct 14.

Universality of solar-wind turbulent spectrum from MHD to electron scales.

Physical review letters

O Alexandrova, J Saur, C Lacombe, A Mangeney, J Mitchell, S J Schwartz, P Robert

Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz 1, 50923, Cologne, Germany. [email protected]

PMID: 19905703 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165003

Abstract

To investigate the universality of magnetic turbulence in space plasmas, we analyze seven time periods in the free solar wind under different plasma conditions. Three instruments on Cluster spacecraft operating in different frequency ranges give us the possibility to resolve spectra up to 300 Hz. We show that the spectra form a quasiuniversal spectrum following the Kolmogorov's law approximately k(-5/3) at MHD scales, a approximately k(-2.8) power law at ion scales, and an exponential approximately exp[-sqrt[k(rho)e]] at scales k(rho)e approximately [0.1,1], where rho(e) is the electron gyroradius. This is the first observation of an exponential magnetic spectrum in space plasmas that may indicate the onset of dissipation. We distinguish for the first time between the role of different spatial kinetic plasma scales and show that the electron Larmor radius plays the role of a dissipation scale in space plasma turbulence.

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