The structure of magnetic turbulence in the heliosheath region observed by Voyager 2 at 106 AU

Abstract

It is currently believed that the turbulent fluctuations pervade the outermost heliosphere. Turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and their link may be responsible for magnetic energy conversion in these regions. The governing mechanisms of such anisotropic and compressible magnetic turbulence in the inner heliosheath (IHS) and in the local interstellar medium (LISM) still lack a thorough description. The present literature mainly concerns large scales which are not representative of the inertial-cascade dynamics of turbulence. Moreover, lack of broadband spectral analysis makes the IHS dynamics critically understudied. Our recent study [1] shows that 48 s magnetic-field data from the Voyager mission are appropriate for a spectral analysis over a frequency range of six decades, from 5 × 10−8 Hz to 10−2 Hz. Here, focusing on the Voyager 2 observation interval from 2013.824 to 2016.0, we describe the structure of turbulence in a sector zone of the IHS. A spectral break around 7 × 10−7 Hz (magnetic structures with size ℓ ≈ 1.3 Astronomical Units) separates the energy-injection regime from the inertial-cascade regime of turbulence. A second scale is observed around 6 × 10−5 Hz (ℓ ≈ 0.017 AU) and corresponds to a peak of compressibility and intermittency of fluctuations.