Franci, L

Hellinger, P

Landi, S

Matteini, L

Verdini, A

The Astrophysical Journal

We present results from a high-resolution and large-scale hybrid (fluid electrons and particle-in-cell protons) twodimensional
numerical simulation of decaying turbulence. Two distinct spectral regions (separated by a smooth
break at proton scales) develop with clear power-law scaling, each one occupying about a decade in wavenumbers.
The simulation results simultaneously exhibit several properties of the observed solar wind fluctuations: spectral
indices of the magnetic, kinetic, and residual energy spectra in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) inertial range
along with a flattening of the electric field spectrum, an increase in magnetic compressibility, and a strong coupling
of the cascade with the density and the parallel component of the magnetic fluctuations at sub-proton scales. Our
findings support the interpretation that in the solar wind, large-scale MHD fluctuations naturally evolve beyond
proton scales into a turbulent regime that is governed by the generalized Ohm’s la

SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE FROM MHD TO SUB-ION SCALES: HIGH-RESOLUTION HYBRID SIMULATIONS

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