Published May 31, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

Density fluctuation spectrum in whistler turbulence

  • 1. Department of Physics and Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomy Research, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama 35899 (United States)

Description

We develop a nonlinear two-dimensional fluid model of whistler turbulence that includes effect of electron fluid density perturbations. The latter is coupled nonlinearly with wave magnetic field. This coupling leads essentially to finite compressibility effects in whistler turbulence model. We find from our simulations that despite strong compressibility effects, the density fluctuations follow the evolution of the wave magnetic field fluctuations. In a characteristic regime where large scale whistlers are predominant, the coupled density fluctuations are found to follow a Kolmogorov-like phenomenology in the inertial range turbulence. Consequently, the turbulent energy is dominated by the large scale (compared to electron inertial length) eddies and it follows a Kolmogorov-like k-7/3 spectrum, where k is a characteristic wavenumber.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2010.04.024

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.physleta.2010.04.024;
PII
S0375-9601(10)00448-2;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physics Letters. A
Journal Volume
374
Journal Issue
25
Journal Page Range
p. 2551-2554
ISSN
0375-9601
CODEN
PYLAAG

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.