Astrophysicists work toward unification of turbulence framework—weak-to-strong transition discovered in turbulence

Turbulence is ubiquitous in nature. It exists in all places, from our every day lives to the distant universe, whereas being labeled as “the final nice unsolved downside of classical physics” by Richard Feynman. Prof. Dr. Huirong Yan and her group from the Institute of Physics and Astronomy on the College of Potsdam and DESY have now found a long-predicted phenomenon: the weak-to-strong transition in small amplitude space plasma turbulence.

The invention was made by analyzing information from ESA’s Cluster mission—a constellation of 4 spacecraft flying in formation round Earth and investigating how the sun and the Earth work together. The analysis is published within the journal Nature Astronomy.

The weak-to-strong transition in Alfvénic turbulence is essentially the most vital, but observationally unconfirmed, prediction of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence principle within the final three many years. It’s exceptionally troublesome as a result of the three-dimensional sampling of turbulence fluctuations was not out there but. Subsequently, the analysis group developed new multi-spacecraft evaluation strategies to acquire three-dimensional data on velocity and magnetic subject fluctuations, permitting direct comparisons between observations and principle.

“The observational affirmation of the weak-to-strong transition solves the final puzzle in MHD turbulence principle: It proves that the turbulence self-organizes from linear 2D wave-like fluctuations to sturdy 3D turbulence through the power cascade (i.e., energy transfer throughout scales) with rising nonlinearity, whatever the preliminary stage of disturbances, highlighting the universality of sturdy MHD turbulence,” says Huirong Yan, professor for plasma astrophysics on the College of Potsdam and main scientist at DESY.

Consequently, these findings considerably deepen our data of ubiquitous turbulence, and their implications lengthen past the examine of turbulence itself to particle transport and acceleration, magnetic reconnection, star formation, and all different related bodily processes from our Earth to the distant universe.