Wan, MinpingOughton, SeanServidio, SergioMatthaeus, William H.2010-08-052010-08-052009Wan, M., Oughton, S., Servidio, S. & Matthaeus, W.H. (2009). Generation of non-Gaussian statistics and coherent structures in ideal magnetohydrodynamics. Physics of Plasmas, 16, 080703https://hdl.handle.net/10289/4251Spectral method simulations of ideal magnetohydrodynamics are used to investigate production of coherent small scale structures, a feature of fluid models that is usually associated with inertial range signatures of nonuniform dissipation, and the associated emergence of non-Gaussian statistics. The near-identical growth of non-Gaussianity in ideal and nonideal cases suggests that generation of coherent structures and breaking of self-similarity are essentially ideal processes. This has important implications for understanding the origin of intermittency in turbulence.application/pdfenThis article has been published in the journal: Physics of Plasmas. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.mathematicsmagnetohydrodynamicsJournal Article10.1063/1.3206949