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Variance anisotropy in kinetic plasmas

Abstract
Solar wind fluctuations admit well-documented anisotropies of the variance matrix, or polarization, related to the mean magnetic field direction. Typically, one finds a ratio of perpendicular variance to parallel variance of the order of 9:1 for the magnetic field. Here we study the question of whether a kinetic plasma spontaneously generates and sustains parallel variances when initiated with only perpendicular variance. We find that parallel variance grows and saturates at about 5% of the perpendicular variance in a few nonlinear times irrespective of the Reynolds number. For sufficiently large systems (Reynolds numbers) the variance approaches values consistent with the solar wind observations.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Parashar, T. N., Oughton, S., Matthaeus, W. H., & Wan, M. (2016). Variance anisotropy in kinetic plasmas. Astrophysical Journal, 824(1). http://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/824/1/44
Date
2016-06-10
Publisher
IOP Publishing Ltd
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.