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## Solar wind density turbulence from 10 to 45 solar radii by K. Sasikumar Raja et al.*

6 Jun 2017, 11:08 UTC
(200 words excerpt, click title or image to see full post)

The extended solar corona and the solar wind is a rich testbed for studying the properties of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. While most solar wind turbulence theories only treat incompressible turbulence, density irregularities are present in the solar wind, and are manifested through fluctuations in the refractive index. Knowledge of density turbulence impacts our understanding of the solar wind significantly, and is important for interpreting a variety of observations. It is linked to our basic understanding of the compressibility of solar wind turbulence. It is also key to infer radio wave scattering leading to depressed quiet Sun brightness temperatures at low radio frequencies, the dissipation of solar wind turbulence, leading to extended solar wind heating, energetic particle propagation through the heliosphere and other interesting problems. The present analysis describes a) the manner in which the amplitude of turbulence ($C_{N}^{2}$) and the modulation index ($\epsilon_N = \delta N/N$) vary with heliocentric distance in the solar wind and b) of the solar cycle dependence of these quantities.
Observations
We have used Crab occultation observations (see Figure 1) made in 2011 and 2013 at the Gauribidanur observatory (Ramesh et al., 2011), together with published data from several earlier observations over the interferometer baselines $60-1000$ ...