HR: 1330h
AN: SH42B-0528    [PDF]
TI: Solar wind magnetic fluctuations and its Probability Density Function
AU: * Jurac, S
EM: jurac@space.mit.edu
AF: MIT, MIT 37-635, Cambridge, MA 02139 United States
AB: We examine an intermittent behavior observed in solar wind magnetic field and fat-tailed Probability Density Functions (PDFs) that are generated by shocks and discontinuities. In particular, the Kappa distribution function widely used for description of planetary magnetospheres, is shown to be particularly promising for modeling observed PDFs. We show that the reason for this lies in the asymmetric distribution of fluctuations in variance, i.e. that the variance is Gamma distributed on the logarithmic scale. This oposses to a Gaussian (symmetric) distribution of variances, which yields the Castaing distribution in a turbulent fluid flow. We examine how the Kappa PDFs are generated and discuss the roles of shocks and magnetic holes in that process.
DE: 2109 Discontinuities
DE: 2139 Interplanetary shocks
DE: 2159 Plasma waves and turbulence
DE: 2169 Sources of the solar wind
DE: 2731 Magnetosphere--outer
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting