Nonextensive entropy approach to space plasma fluctuations and turbulence

Spatial intermittency in fully developed turbulence is an established feature of astrophysical plasma fluctuations and in particular apparent in the interplanetary medium by in situ observations. In this situation the classical Boltzmann-Gibbs extensive thermo-statistics, applicable when microscopic interactions and memory are short ranged, fails. Upon generalization of the entropy function to nonextensivity, accounting for long-range interactions and thus for correlations in the system, it is demonstrated that the corresponding probability distributions (PDFs) are members of a family of specific power-law distributions. In particular, the resulting theoretical bi-kappa functional reproduces accurately the observed global leptokurtic, non-Gaussian shape of the increment PDFs of characteristic solar wind variables on all scales. Gradual decoupling is obtained by enhancing the spatial separation scale corresponding to increasing kappa-values in case of slow solar wind conditions where a Gaussian is approached in the limit of large scales. Contrary, the scaling properties in the high speed solar wind are predominantly governed by the mean energy or variance of the distribution. The PDFs of solar wind scalar field differences are computed from WIND and ACE data for different time-lags and bulk speeds and analyzed within the nonextensive theory. Consequently, nonlocality in fluctuations, related to both, turbulence and its large scale driving, should be related to long-range interactions in the context of nonextensive entropy generalization, providing fundamentally the physical background of the observed scale dependence of fluctuations in intermittent space plasmas.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication, to appear in Advances in Geosciences 2, chapter 04, 2006 (with minor corrections

Dark matter density profiles: A comparison of nonextensive theory with N-body simulations

Density profiles of simulated galaxy cluster-sized dark matter haloes are analysed in the context of a recently introduced nonextensive theory of dark matter and gas density distributions. Nonextensive statistics accounts for long-range interactions in gravitationally coupled systems and is derived from the fundamental concept of entropy generalisation. The simulated profiles are determined down to radii of ~1% of R_200. The general trend of the relaxed, spherically averaged profiles is accurately reproduced by the theory. For the main free parameter kappa, measuring the degree of coupling within the system, and linked to physical quantities as the heat capacity and the polytropic index of the self-gravitating ensembles, we find a value of -15. The significant advantage over empirical fitting functions is provided by the physical content of the nonextensive approach.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Is current disruption associated with an inverse cascade?

Current disruption (CD) and the related kinetic instabilities in the near-Earth magnetosphere represent physical mechanisms which can trigger multi-scale substorm activity including global reorganizations of the magnetosphere. Lui et al. (2008) proposed a CD scenario in which the kinetic scale linear modes grow and reach the typical dipolarization scales through an inverse cascade. The experimental verification of the inverse nonlinear cascade is based on wavelet analysis. In this paper the Hilbert-Huang transform is used which is suitable for nonlinear systems and allows to reconstruct the time-frequency representation of empirical decomposed modes in an adaptive manner. It was found that, in the Lui et al. (2008) event, the modes evolve globally from high-frequencies to low-frequencies. However, there are also local frequency evolution trends oriented towards high-frequencies, indicating that the underlying processes involve multi-scale physics and non-stationary fluctuations for which the simple inverse cascade scenario is not correct.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

A universal mirror wave-mode threshold condition for non-thermal space plasma environments

Magnetic fluctuations are recognized in a large variety of space plasmas by increasingly high resolution, in situ observations as mirror wave mode structures. A typical requirement for the excitation of mirror modes is a dominant perpendicular pressure in a high-beta plasma environment. Contrary, we demonstrate from a realistic kinetic analysis how details of the velocity space distributions are of considerable significance for the instability threshold. Introducing the most common characteristics of observed ion and electron distributions by a mixed suprathermal-loss-cone, we derive a universal mirror instability criterion from an energy principle for collisionless plasmas. As a result, the transition from two temperature Maxwellians to realistic non-thermal features provides a strong source for the generation of mirror wave mode activity, reducing drastically the instability threshold. In particular, a number of space-related examples illuminate how the specific structure of the velocity space distribution dominates as a regulating excitation mechanism over the effects related to changes in the plasma parameters

A nonextensive entropy path to probability distributions in solar wind turbulence

International audienceThe observed scale dependence of the probability distributions of the differences of characteristic solar wind variables is analyzed. Intermittency of the turbulent fluctuations at small-scale spatial separations is accompanied by strongly non-Gaussian distributions that turn into a normal distribution for large-scale separation. Conventional theoretical models are subject to insufficient physical justification since nonlocality in turbulence should be based on long-range interactions, provided recently by the bi-kappa distribution in the context of nonextensive thermo-statistics. Observed WIND and ACE probability distributions are accurately reproduced for different time lags by the one-parameter bi-kappa functional, a core-halo convolution, where kappa measures the degree of nonlocality or nonextensivity in the system. Gradual decoupling is obtained by enhancing the spatial separation scale corresponding to increasing kappa values, where a Gaussian is approached for infinite kappa. Consequently, long-range interactions introduced on the fundamental level of entropy generalization, are able to provide physically the source of the observed scale dependence of the turbulent fluctuations in the intermittent interplanetary medium

Kinetic-energy release in Coulomb explosion of metastable C3H52+

C3H52+, formed by electron impact ionization of propane, undergoes metastable decay into C2H2++CH3+. We have monitored this reaction in a magnetic mass spectrometer of reversed geometry that is equipped with two electric sectors (BEE geometry). Three different techniques were applied to identify the fragment ions and determine the kinetic-energy release (KER) of spontaneous Coulomb explosion of C3H52+ in the second and third field free regions of the mass spectrometer. The KER distribution is very narrow, with a width of about 3% [root-mean square standard deviation]. An average KER of 4.58+/-0.15 eV is derived from the distribution. High level ab initio quantum-chemical calculations of the structure and energetics of C3H52+ are reported. The activation barrier of the reverse reaction, CH3++C2H2+ (vinylidene), is computed. The value closely agrees with the experimental average KER, thus indicating that essentially all energy available in the reaction is partitioned into kinetic energy. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics

Simulated Dark-Matter Halos as a Test of Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics

In the framework of nonextensive statistical mechanics, the equilibrium structures of astrophysical self-gravitating systems are stellar polytropes, parameterized by the polytropic index n. By careful comparison to the structures of simulated dark-matter halos we find that the density profiles, as well as other fundamental properties, of stellar polytropes are inconsistent with simulations for any value of n. This result suggests the need to reconsider the applicability of nonextensive statistical mechanics (in its simplest form) to equilibrium self-gravitating systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Evolution of kinklike fluctuations associated with ion pickup within reconnection outflows in the Earth's magnetotail

Magnetic reconnection (MR) in Earth's magnetotail is usually followed by a systemwide redistribution of explosively released kinetic and thermal energy. Recently, multispacecraft observations from the THEMIS mission were used to study localized explosions associated with MR in the magnetotail so as to understand subsequent Earthward propagation of MR outbursts during substorms. Here we investigate plasma and magnetic field fluctuations/structures associated with MR exhaust and ion-ion kink mode instability during a well documented MR event. Generation, evolution and fading of kinklike oscillations are followed over a distance of 70 000 km from the reconnection site in the midmagnetotail to the more dipolar region near the Earth. We have found that the kink oscillations driven by different ion populations within the outflow region can be at least 25 000 km from the reconnection site.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Magnetic Fluctuations and Turbulence in the Venus Magnetosheath and Wake

Recent research has shown that distinct physical regions in the Venusian induced magnetosphere are recognizable from the variations of strength and of wave/fluctuation activity of the magnetic field. In this paper the statistical properties of magnetic fluctuations are investigated in the Venusian magnetosheath, terminator, and wake regions. The latter two regions were not visited by previous missions. We found 1/f fluctuations in the magnetosheath, large-scale structures near the terminator and more developed turbulence further downstream in the wake. Location independent short-tailed non-Gaussian statistics was observed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure