Turbulence in the solar wind
Abstract
Instabilities observed in the solar wind, closely related to its dynamic expansion, are studied, and solar wind investigations conducted by such interplanetary probes as the International Sun Earth Explorers (ISEE) A and B are discussed. Electron and proton distributions in the solar wind, both of which may be characterized by bi-Maxwellian distribution functions, are described. Properties of waves propagating in the anisotropic plasma are also considered; only the MHD, magnetoionic, and Langmuir wave approximations for a collisionless plasma are treated. In addition, calculations of the autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions developed for spectral analyses of the waves are reviewed. The ISEE A and B experiments, designed to study the spectrum of solar wind density fluctuations on the scale of the Larmor radius, are mentioned.
- Publication:
-
Journal de Physique
- Pub Date:
- August 1977
- Bibcode:
- 1977JPhys..38R...3H
- Keywords:
-
- Plasma Turbulence;
- Solar Wind;
- Electron Distribution;
- Electrostatic Waves;
- International Sun Earth Explorers;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Waves;
- Magnetoionics;
- Mean Free Path;
- Particle Diffusion;
- Solar Protons;
- Solar Spectra;
- Wave Propagation;
- Solar Physics