Turbulence in solar wind and laboratory plasmas

Abstract

Recent studies of plasma turbulence based on measurements within solar wind and laboratory plasmas has been discussed. Evidences for the presence of a turbulent energy cascade, using the Yaglom’s law for MHD turbulence, has been provided through data from the Ulysses spacecraft. This allows, for the first time, a direct estimate of the turbulent energy transfer rate, which can contribute to the in situ heating of the solar wind. The energy cascade has been evidenced also for E×B electrostatic turbulence in laboratory magnetized plasmas using measurements of intermittent transport (bursty turbulence) at the edge of the RFX‐mod reversed field pinch plasma device. Finally the problem of the dispersive region of turbulence in solar wind above the ion‐cyclotron frequency, where a spectral break is usually observed, and the problem of dissipation in a collisionless fluid as the solar wind, are briefly discussed.