Spatial correlation of solar wind fluctuations and solar cycle dependence
Wicks, Robert T., Chapman, Sandra C. and Dendy, R. O.. (2009) Spatial correlation of solar wind fluctuations and solar cycle dependence. Astrophysical Journal, Vol.690 (No.1). pp. 734-742. ISSN 0004-637XFull text not available from this repository.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/690/1/734
We investigate the spatial correlation properties of the solar wind in the ecliptic at 1 AU using simultaneous in situ observations by the Advanced Composition Explorer and Wind spacecraft. We present the first direct study of the spatial correlation length scale lambda of fluctuations in the solar wind ion density rho, and find it to be smaller than that of the magnetic field. We find that there is the same statistically significant increase in lambda by a factor approximate to 2 from solar minimum to solar maximum for both density and magnetic field magnitude, in contrast to the components of the field, whose lambda shows no discernible solar cycle variation. This is suggestive of long-range correlation in rho and vertical bar B vertical bar which is of direct coronal origin, in contrast to that found in the B components, which is more strongly dominated by in situ evolving turbulence. The distinct correlation lengths of the density and magnetic field, and their solar cycle variation, thus provide new quantitative insights into coronal processes and their mapping out into the solar wind. These results also provide quantitative input for models of cosmic ray propagation within the heliosphere.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Subjects:||Q Science > QB Astronomy|
|Divisions:||Faculty of Science > Physics|
|Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):||Cosmic rays, Solar wind, Solar cycle, Turbulence|
|Journal or Publication Title:||Astrophysical Journal|
|Publisher:||Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.|
|Official Date:||1 January 2009|
|Number of Pages:||9|
|Page Range:||pp. 734-742|
|Funder:||Science and Technology Facilities Council (Great Britain) (STFC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)|
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