Residual Energy and Imbalance in Solar Wind Turbulence

The energy spectra of magnetic field and velocity have been well measured in inertial range solar wind turbulence. It is not well understood, however, why these spectra, on average, display different power law behavior. Here, we present new measurements of the residual energy scaling and its variation with relevant solar wind parameters. These measurements are compared to theoretical predictions to determine the cause of this difference. We also examine the local properties of both the residual energy and cross helicity in the solar wind, finding that globally balanced turbulence can consist of patches of local imbalance at all scales and that the residual energy is consistently negative at all scales. The importance of these findings for the turbulence dynamics is discussed.