Three-dimensional energy transfer in space plasma turbulence from multipoint measurement

Authors: Francesco Pecora (University of Delaware), Sergio Servidio (Università della Calabria), Yan Yang (University of Delaware), William H. Matthaeus (University of Delaware), Alexandros Chasapis (LASP University of Colorado Boulder), Antonella Greco (Università della Calabria), Daniel J. Gershman (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Barbara L. Giles (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and James L. Burch (Southwest Research Institute)

A novel multispacecraft technique applied to Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission data collected in the Earth’s magnetosheath enables evaluation of the energy cascade rate solving the full Yaglom’s equation in a turbulent space plasma. The method differs from existing approaches in that (i) it is inherently three-dimensional; (ii) it provides a statistically significant number of estimates from a single data stream; and (iii) it allows for a direct visualization of energy flux in turbulent plasmas. This new technique will ultimately provide a realistic, comprehensive picture of the turbulence process in plasmas.