HR: 0800h
AN: SH51C-0286    [Abstracts]
TI: The Turbulent Correlation Length in the Distant Solar Wind
AU: * Isenberg, P A
EM: phil.isenberg@unh.edu
AF: Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, SSC/Morse Hall, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AU: Smith, C W
EM: charles.smith@unh.edu
AF: Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, SSC/Morse Hall, 39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824 United States
AB: A model of turbulent evolution in the distant solar wind has recently been presented which incorporates the detailed quasilinear generation of fluctuations by interstellar pickup protons to drive the turbulence [{\it Isenberg et al., ApJ}, 592, 564, 2003; {\it Isenberg, ApJ}, submitted, 2004]. The dissipation of the turbulent fluctuations at the standard Kolmogorov rate has been shown to provide a reasonable agreement with observed heating of the core solar wind protons out to almost 75 AU [{\it Smith et al., ApJ}, submitted, 2004]. In this model, the correlation length of the turbulence $\lambda (r)$ is a fundamental quantity, since it controls the turbulent dissipation rate. Although analysis of observations out to 30 AU indicates that $\lambda$ steadily increases with {\it r}, the model calls for this quantity to decrease beyond about 10 AU due to the turbulent driving by the pickup protons. Here, we investigate modifications to the present model which will bring the correlation length more in line with the observations. These modifications will, in turn, affect the predicted turbulent intensities and solar wind temperatures. We will present and discuss the modified model and compare its results with solar wind observations.
DE: 7827 Kinetic and MHD theory
DE: 7863 Turbulence
DE: 2149 MHD waves and turbulence
DE: 2152 Pickup ions
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting