Anisotropy in solar wind plasma turbulence.

A review of spectral anisotropy and variance anisotropy for solar wind fluctuations is given, with the discussion covering inertial range and dissipation range scales. For the inertial range, theory, simulations and observations are more or less in accord, in that fluctuation energy is found to be primarily in modes with quasi-perpendicular wavevectors (relative to a suitably defined mean magnetic field), and also that most of the fluctuation energy is in the vector components transverse to the mean field. Energy transfer in the parallel direction and the energy levels in the parallel components are both relatively weak. In the dissipation range, observations indicate that variance anisotropy tends to decrease towards isotropic levels as the electron gyroradius is approached; spectral anisotropy results are mixed. Evidence for and against wave interpretations and turbulence interpretations of these features will be discussed. We also present new simulation results concerning evolution of variance anisotropy for different classes of initial conditions, each with typical background solar wind parameters.

Intermittency, nonlinear dynamics and dissipation in the solar wind and astrophysical plasmas.

An overview is given of important properties of spatial and temporal intermittency, including evidence of its appearance in fluids, magnetofluids and plasmas, and its implications for understanding of heliospheric plasmas. Spatial intermittency is generally associated with formation of sharp gradients and coherent structures. The basic physics of structure generation is ideal, but when dissipation is present it is usually concentrated in regions of strong gradients. This essential feature of spatial intermittency in fluids has been shown recently to carry over to the realm of kinetic plasma, where the dissipation function is not known from first principles. Spatial structures produced in intermittent plasma influence dissipation, heating, and transport and acceleration of charged particles. Temporal intermittency can give rise to very long time correlations or a delayed approach to steady-state conditions, and has been associated with inverse cascade or quasi-inverse cascade systems, with possible implications for heliospheric prediction.

Anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic spectral transfer in the diffusion approximation.

A theoretical model of spectral transfer for anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence is introduced, approximating energy transport in wave vector (k) space as a nonlinear diffusion process, extending previous isotropic k -space diffusion theories for hydrodynamics and MHD. This formal closure at the spectral equation level may be useful in space and astrophysical applications.