Numerical simulations and experimental results have shown that the formation of current sheets in space plasmas can be associated with enhanced vorticity. Also, in simulations the generation of such structures is associated with strong plasma heating. Here, we compare four-point measurements in the terrestrial magnetosheath turbulence from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission of the flow vorticity and the magnetic field curlometer versus their corresponding one-point proxies PVI(V ) and PVI(B) based on the Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) method. We show that the one-point proxies are sufficiently precise in identifying not only the generic features of the current sheets and vortices statistically, but also their appearance in groups associated with plasma heating. The method has been further applied to the region of the turbulent sheath of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) observed at L1 by the WIND spacecraft. We observe current sheets and vorticity associated heating in larger groups (blobs), which so far have not been considered in the literature on turbulent data analysis. The blobs represent extended spatial regions of activity with enhanced regional correlations between the occurrence of conditioned currents and vorticity, which at the same time are also correlated with enhanced temperatures. This heating mechanism is substantially different from the plasma heating in the vicinity of the ICME shock, where plasma beta is strongly fluctuating and there is no vorticity. The proposed method describes a new pathway for linking the plasma heating and plasma turbulence, and it is relevant to in situ observations when only single spacecraft measurements are available.
A possible link between turbulence and plasma heating
Yordanova E.; Voros Z.; Sorriso-Valvo L.; Dimmock A.P.; Kilpua E.
Journal:
Astrophysical journal (Online) 921 (1),
pp. 65-1 - 65-12
Year:
2021
ISTP Authors: Luca Sorriso-Valvo
Keywords: Interplanetary turbulence, Solar coronal mass ejections, Plasma physics
Research Activitie: JOURNAL ARTICLES
Related products
-
Nuclear fusion 61 (2), pp. 023001-1 - 023001-75 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.1088/1741-4326/abc06c
The reversed field pinch
Marrelli L.; Martin P.; Puiatti M.E.; Sarff J.S.; Chapman B.E.; Drake J.R.; Escande D.F.; Masamune S.
-
Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry 30 pp. e00121-1 - e00121-12 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.teac.2021.e00121
Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy applied to environmental systems and their potential contaminants. An overview of advances achieved in the last few years
Goncalves D.A.; Senesi G.S.; Nicolodelli G.
-
Review of scientific instruments 92 (4), pp. 043556-1 - 043556-6 Year: 2021 DOI: 10.1063/5.0043669
Design of JT-60SA core Thomson scattering diagnostic system
Tojo H.; Pasqualotto R.; Fassina A.; Giudicotti L.; Sasao H.; Homma H.; Oyama N.
English
Italiano