Properties and Selected Implications of Magnetic Turbulence for Interstellar Medium, Local Bubble and Solar Wind

Astrophysical fluids, including interstellar and interplanetary medium, are magnetized and turbulent. Their appearance, evolution, and overall properties are determined by the magnetic turbulence that stirs it. We argue that examining magnetic turbulence at a fundamental level is vital to understand...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Space science reviews 2009-03, Vol.143 (1-4), p.387-413
Main Authors: Lazarian, A., Beresnyak, A., Yan, H., Opher, M., Liu, Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerospace Technology and Astronautics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Earth, ocean, space
Evolution
Exact sciences and technology
Gases
Magnetic fields
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Planetology
Space Exploration and Astronautics
Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics
Turbulence
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Summary:Astrophysical fluids, including interstellar and interplanetary medium, are magnetized and turbulent. Their appearance, evolution, and overall properties are determined by the magnetic turbulence that stirs it. We argue that examining magnetic turbulence at a fundamental level is vital to understanding many processes. A point that frequently escapes the attention of researchers is that magnetic turbulence cannot be confidently understood only using “brute force” numerical approaches. In this review we illustrate this point on a number of examples, including intermittent heating of plasma by turbulence, interactions of turbulence with cosmic rays and effects of turbulence on the rate of magnetic reconnection. We show that the properties of magnetic turbulence may vary considerably in various environments, e.g. imbalanced (or cross-helical) turbulence in solar wind differs from balanced turbulence and both of these differ from turbulence in partially ionized gas. Appealing for the necessity of more observational data on magnetic fields, we discuss a possibility of studying interplanetary turbulence using alignment of Sodium atoms in the tail of comets.
ISSN:0038-6308
1572-9672
DOI:10.1007/s11214-008-9452-y