Ion Kinetic Scale in the Solar Wind Observed

Abstract

This Letter shows the first results from the solar wind monitor onboard the Spektr-R spacecraft which measures plasma moments with a time resolution of 31 ms. This high-time resolution allows us to make direct observations of solar wind turbulence below ion kinetic length scales.

We present examples of the frequency spectra of the density, velocity, and thermal velocity. Our study reveals that although these parameters exhibit the same behavior at the magnetohydrodynamic scale, their spectra are remarkably different at the kinetic scale.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.025004

Keywords

• dissipation range
• wave turbulence
• energy cascade
• spectra
• magnetohydrodynamics
• intermittency
• fluctuations
• dependence