Parashar, Tulasi N.Oughton, SeanMatthaeus, William H.Wan, Minpin2016-07-262016-06-102016-07-262016-06-10Parashar, 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/824/1/440004-637Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/10289/10561Solar 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.application/pdfen© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Science & TechnologyPhysical SciencesAstronomy & Astrophysicsplasmassolar windturbulencewavesSOLAR-WIND TURBULENCEMAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC TURBULENCELOCAL ANISOTROPYALFVEN WAVESSIMULATIONSDISSIPATIONEQUATIONSJournal Article10.3847/0004-637X/824/1/44