ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE THIRD-ORDER SCALING IN HIGH LATITUDE SOLAR WIND

Abstract

The occurrence and nature of a nonlinear energy cascade within the intermediate scales of solar wind Alfvenic turbulence represents an important open issue. Using in situ measurements of fast, high latitude solar wind taken by the Ulysses spacecraft at solar minima, it is possible to show that a nonlinear energy cascade of imbalanced turbulence is only observed when the solar wind owns peculiar properties. These are the reduction of the local correlation between velocity and magnetic field (weak cross-helicity); the presence of large-scale velocity shears; and the steepening and extension down to low frequencies of the turbulent spectra. Our observations suggest the important role of both large-scale velocity and Alfvenicity of the field fluctuations for the validation of the Yaglom law in solar wind turbulence.