Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Calculating the plasma deformation tensor and kinetic vorticity from magnetic field time series: Applications to the solar wind

  • Published:
Solar Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is shown that the magnetic induction equation reduces to an autoregressive model equation. Assuming weakly ergodic field variations in steady mean plasma flow, this model permits the estimation of the mean flow deformation tensor, velocity divergence and kinetic vorticity from magnetic field time series. Applications, made to hourly-averaged, in-ecliptic interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) measurements from Ulysses spacecraft, showed that the direction of maximum deformation rate was, for most of the time, aligned to the mean field, while the vorticity tended to become perpendicular to the mean radial direction at large heliodistances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Belcher, J. W. and Davis, L., Jr.: 1971, J. Geophys. Res. 76, 3534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belcher, J. W., Davis, L., Jr., and Smith, E. J.: 1969, J. Geophys. Res. 74, 2302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broomhead, D. S. and King, G. P.: 1986, Physica D20, 217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burlaga, L. F.: 1990. J. Geophys. Res. 95, 4333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, M. E., Smith, E. J., and Goldstein, B. E.: 1992, Geophys. Res. Letters 19, 1287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzug, T. and Pfister, G.: 1992, Physica D58, 127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chorin, A. J. and Marsden, J. E.: 1993, A Mathematical Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, Springer- Verlag, New York, p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, P. J.: 1967, Planetary Space Sci. 15, 953.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobrowonly, M. A., Mangeney, P., and Veltri, P.: 1980a, Astron. Astrophys. 83, 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobrowonly, M. A., Mangeney, P., and Veltri, P.: 1980b, Phys. Rev. Letters 45, 144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, A. M.: 1989, Physica D34, 391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haykin, S.: 1991, Adaptive Filter Theory, Prentice-Hall, New York, p. 165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyng, P.: 1992, in J. T. Schmelz and J. C. Brown (eds.), The Sun, a Laboratory for Astrophysics, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Holland, p. 99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay, S. M.: 1988, Modern Spectral Estimation, Prentice-Hall, New York, p. 153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, F. and Rädler, K. H.: 1980, Mean Field Magnetohydrodynamics and Dynamo Theory, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsch, E. and Tu, C. Y.: 1989, J. Plasma Phys. 41, 479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsch, E. and Tu, C. Y.: 1992, in E. Marsch ad R. Schwenn (eds.), Solar Wind Sevens, Pergamon Press, London, p. 505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattheus, W. H. and Goldstein, M. L.: 1982a, J. Geophys. Res. 87, 6011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattheus, W. H. and Goldstein, M. L.: 1982b, NASA Technical Memorandum 83963.

  • Mattheus, W. H. and Goldstein, M. L.: 1982c, in M. Neugebauer (ed.), Solar Wind Five, NASA CP-2280, p. 73.

  • Montgomery, D.: 1982, in M. Neugebauer (ed.), Solar Wind Five, NASA CP-2280. p. 107.

  • Ott, E., Sauer, T., and Yorke, J. A.: 1994, in E. Ott, T. Sauer, and J. A. Yorke (eds.), Coping with Chaos, Wiley, New York, p. 41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Packard, N. H., Cruchfield, J. P., Farmer, J. D., and Shaw, R. S.: 1980, Phys. Rev. Letters 45, 719.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, J. L., Bame, S. L., Gosling, J. T., and McComas, D. J.: 1992, Geophys. Res. Letters 19, 1239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polygiannakis, J. M. and Moussas, X.: 1994, Solar Phys. 151, 341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, P. H.: 1994, in M. R. E. Proctor and A. D. Gilbert (eds.), Lectures on Solar and Planetary Dynamos, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, D. A. and Goldstein, M. L.: 1991, Rev. Geophys. Suppl. 932.

  • Siregar, E., Roberts, D. A., and Goldstein, M. L.: 1992, Geophys. Res. Letters 19, 1427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siregar, E., Roberts, D. A., and Goldstein, M. L.: 1993, Geophys. Res. Letters 98, 13233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suess, S. T., McComas, D. J., Bame, S. J., and Goldstein, B. E.: 1995, J. Geophys. Res. 100, 12261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takens, F.: 1981, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 898, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsurutani, B. T., Southwood, D. J., Smith, E. J., and Balogh, A.: 1992, Geophys. Res. Letters 19, 1267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu, C.-Y. and Marsch, E.: 1995a, MHD Structures, Waves and Turbulence in the Solar Wind, Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu, C.-Y, Marsch, E., and Rosenbauer, H.: 1995b, Low-Dimensional Attractor in Slow Solar Wind, Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, preprint.

  • Wenzel, K. P. and Smith, E. J.: 1992, Geophys. Res. Letters 19, 1235.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astronomy, Astrophysics and Mechanics, Department of Physics, National University of Athens, GR 15783, Athens, Greece

    J. M. Polygiannakis & X. Moussas

Authors
  1. J. M. Polygiannakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. X. Moussas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Polygiannakis, J.M., Moussas, X. Calculating the plasma deformation tensor and kinetic vorticity from magnetic field time series: Applications to the solar wind. Sol Phys 166, 423–431 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00149408

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00149408

Keywords

Search

Navigation