Dissipation scales in the Earth's plasma sheet estimated from Cluster measurements

Z. Vörös (1) , W. Baumjohann (1) , R. Nakamura (1) , A. Runov (1) , M. Volwerk (1) , H. Schwarzl (2) , A. Balogh (3) , H. Rème (4)

1 IWF - Space Research Institute of Austrian Academy of Sciences
2 University of California
3 Imperial College London
4 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

In order to estimate the dissipation time-scale in magnetic turbulence in the plasma sheet a novel method is introduced for classification of velocity dependent patterns of two-point probability density functions' shapes near their maxima. For the first time, we provide evidence for Reynolds number (velocity) dependent widening of the inertial range in the plasma sheet. Since spectral widening of the inertial range is a generic feature of many turbulent flows, its examination can facilitate the recognition of intermittent turbulence in the plasma sheet.

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Sciences de la Terre

Z. Vörös, W. Baumjohann, R. Nakamura, A. Runov, M. Volwerk, et al.. Dissipation scales in the Earth's plasma sheet estimated from Cluster measurements. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 2005, 12 (5), pp.725-732. ⟨hal-00331086⟩