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Intermittent MHD structures and classical discontinuities
Author(s) -
Greco A.,
Chuychai P.,
Matthaeus W. H.,
Servidio S.,
Dmitruk P.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl035454
Subject(s) - classification of discontinuities , magnetohydrodynamics , intermittency , magnetohydrodynamic drive , physics , turbulence , magnetohydrodynamic turbulence , solar wind , magnetic field , mechanics , geophysics , statistical physics , computational physics , classical mechanics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , quantum mechanics
We examine statistics of rapid spatial variations of the magnetic field in simulations of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, by analyzing intermittency properties, and by using classical methods for identifying discontinuities. The methods identify similar structures, and give very similar event distribution functions. When the results are scaled to the correlation length, the average waiting times agree with typically reported waiting times between solar wind discontinuities. Thus discontinuities may be related to flux tube boundaries and intermittent structures that appear spontaneously in MHD turbulence.