Anisotropic turbulence in the solar wind

Abstract

Solar wind turbulence has been viewed traditionally as composed of parallel propagating ('slab' fluctuations) or otherwise as isotropic turbulence. A variety of recent investigations, reviewed here, indicate that the spectrum may contain a significant admixture of two dimensional fluctuations, having variations mainly perpendicular to the local magnetic field. These indications come from simulations, from the theory of nearly incompressible MHD, from cosmic ray transport studies and from transport theory for solar wind turbulence, as well as from interpretations of direct observations. Thus, solar wind turbulence may be more like bundles of spaghetti than like parallel phase fronts.