Reduced Models for Compressible Turbulence in the High-Lundquist-Number Solar Wind

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT: ATM 00-001317 Proposal Title: Reduced Models for Compressible Turbulence in the High Lundquist Number Solar Wind Principal Investigator: Amitava Bhattacharjee, University of Iowa The investigators will study the anisotropy and spatial inhomogeneity of the energy spectrum of turbulence in the solar wind, with explicit treatment of the solar wind plasma as a compressible fluid. The main effort is to use a reduced set of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) tailored to the plasma regimes relevant to the solar winds to describe mutual, simultaneous interactions of three and four propagating waves. Over the past few years the investigators have developed the so-called four-field system of equations that has shown much promise in describing turbulence in plasmas at modest (~ 1) beta. Numerical solutions of these equations have been compared, and found to be in good agreement, with results from compressible MHD simulations. The proposed work builds on this recent success. In addition, Hall-MHD simulations will be used to examine wave-wave interaction processes occurring at shorter wavelengths. Eventually, the four-field approximation will be extended to include this shorter scale physics with the addition of a generalized Ohm's law in the formulation.