Third moments and the role of anisotropy from velocity shear in the solar wind

Julia Stawarz, Bernard J. Vasquez, Charles W. Smith, Miriam A. Forman, Joseph Klewicki

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We have extended the recent analyses of magnetohydrodynamic third moments as they relate to the turbulent energy cascade in the solar wind to consider the effects of large-scale shear flows. Moments from a large set of Advanced Composition Explorer data have been taken, and chosen data intervals are characterized by the rate of change in the solar wind speed. Mean dissipation rates are obtained in accordance with the predictions of homogeneous shear-driven turbulence. Agreement with predictions is best made for rarefaction intervals where the solar wind speed is decreasing with time. For decreasing speed intervals, we find that the dissipation rates increase with increasing shear magnitude and that the shear-induced fluctuation anisotropy is consistent with a relatively small amount.
Original languageEnglish
Article number44
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume736
Issue number1
Early online date5 Jul 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Jul 2011
Externally publishedYes

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