DETAILED FIT OF “CRITICAL BALANCE” THEORY TO SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS

Abstract

We derive the reduced spectrum of turbulent magnetic fluctuations at different frequencies f which would be observed by a single spacecraft in the solar wind when the magnetic field was at an angle {theta}{sub B} to the solar wind flow, if the wavevector spectrum in the solar wind frame were in anisotropic 'critical balance' (CB) as proposed by Goldreich and Sridhar in 1995 (GS95). The anisotropic power spectrum in the inertial range, P(f, {theta}{sub B} ), is scaled onto one curve with f-{sup 5/3} behavior at {theta}{sub B} near 90{sup 0} and f{sup -2} behavior at small {theta}{sub B}. The transition between the two limiting spectra depends on the form of the GS95 wavevector spectrum and the CB scaling parameter L. Using wavelet analysis of Ulysses magnetic field data in three 30-day periods in the high-latitude solar wind in 1995, we verify that the scaling of power with angle and frequency is qualitatively consistent with GS95 theory. However, the scale length L required to fit the observed P(f, {theta}{sub B} ) to the original CB theory is rather less than the scale predicted by that theory for the solar wind. Part, possibly all, of this discrepancy is removed when themore » GS95 theory modified for imbalanced turbulence is used.« less