Studying Plasma Turbulence Using Multi-point, Multi-scale Measurements: Intermittency, Anisotropy, Correlation Scales, and Cascade Rates

Studying the dynamic interactions of turbulent fluctuations at multiple scales as energy is transported between structures of different sizes is necessary for characterizing this universal phenomena. In preparation for HelioSwarm, a selected multi-spacecraft missions designed to study the multi-scale nature of turbulence in space plasmas, we extend statistical analysis techniques that have been developed and refined for single-spacecraft or single-scale missions and apply them to synthetic data drawn from numerical simulations of turbulence, using both the Gkyell and Pegasus++ simulation codes. These techniques include the calculation of cascade rates, deconvolution of spatial and temporal correlation scales, and determinations of scale-dependent intermittency and wavevector anisotropy, all essential features of statistical descriptions of turbulence. The accuracy of these techniques is assessed as a function of the geometry of the inter-spacecraft separations, which provides guidance for the design of current and future multi-spacecraft observatory trajectories.