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[1] We analyzed intermittency in the solar wind, as observed on the ecliptic plane, looking at magnetic field and velocity fluctuations between 0.3 and 1 AU, for both fast and slow wind and for compressive and directional fluctuations. Our analysis focused on the property that probability distribution functions of a fluctuating field affected by intermittency become more and more peaked at smaller and smaller scales. Since the peakedness of a distribution is measured by its flatness factor we studied the behavior of this parameter for different scales to estimate the degree of intermittency of our time series. We confirmed that both magnetic field and velocity fluctuations are rather intermittent and that compressive magnetic fluctuations are generally more intermittent than the corresponding velocity fluctuations. In addition, we observed that compressive fluctuations are always more intermittent than directional fluctuations and that while slow wind intermittency does not depend on the radial distance from the Sun, fast wind intermittency of both magnetic field and velocity fluctuations clearly increases with the heliocentric distance. We propose that the observed radial dependence can be understood if we imagine interplanetary fluctuations made of two main components: one represented by coherent, nonpropagating structures convected by the wind and, the other one made of propagating, stochastic fluctuations, namely Alfvén waves. While the first component tends to increase the intermittency level because of its coherent nature, the second one tends to decrease it because of its stochastic nature. As the wind expands, the Alfvénic contribution is depleted because of turbulent evolution and, consequently, the underlying coherent structures convected by the wind, strengthen further on by stream-stream dynamical interaction, assume a more important role increasing intermittency, as observed. Obviously, slow wind does not show a similar behavior because Alfvénic fluctuations have a less dominant role than within fast wind and the Alfvénicity of the wind has already been frozen by the time we observe it at 0.3 AU. Finally, our analysis suggests that the most intermittent magnetic fluctuations are distributed along the local interplanetary magnetic field spiral direction while, those relative to wind velocity seem to be located along the radial direction.

We show in this article direct evidence for the presence of an inertial energy cascade, the most characteristic signature of hydromagnetic turbulence (MHD), in the solar wind as observed by the Ulysses spacecraft. After a brief rederivation of the equivalent of Yaglom's law for MHD turbulence, we show that a linear relation is indeed observed for the scaling of mixed third order structure functions involving Elsässer variables. This experimental result, confirming the prescription stemming from a theorem for MHD turbulence, firmly establishes the turbulent character of low-frequency velocity and magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind plasma.Space flights have shown that the interplanetary medium is permeated by a supersonic, highly turbulent plasma flowing out from the solar corona, the so called solar wind [1,2]. The turbulent character of the flow, at frequencies below the ion gyrofrequency f ci ≃ 1Hz, has been invoked since the first Mariner mission [3]. In fact, velocity and magnetic fluctuations power spectra are close to the Kolmogorov's -5/3 law [2,6]. However, even if fields fluctuations are usually considered within the framework of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence [2], a firm established proof of the existence of an energy cascade, namely the main characteristic of turbulence, remains a conjecture so far [4]. This apparent lack could be fulfilled through the evidence for the existence of the only exact and nontrivial result of turbulence [6], that is a relation between the third order moment of the longitudinal increments of the fields and the separation [5]. This observation would firmly put low frequency solar wind fluctuations within the framework of MHD turbulence. The importance of such question stands beyond the understanding of the basic physics of solar wind turbulence. For example, it is well known that turbulence is one of the main obstacles to the confinement of plasmas in the fusion devices [7,8]. The understanding of interplanetary turbulence and its effects on energetic particle transport is of great importance also for Space Weather research [9], which is a relevant issue for spacecrafts and communication satellites operations, and for the security of human beings. Finally, more theoretical problems are concerned, such as the puzzle of solar coronal heating due to the turbulent flux toward small scales [10].Incompressible MHD equations are more complicated than the standard neutral fluid mechanics equations because the velocity of the charged fluid is coupled with the magnetic field generated by the motion of the fluid itself. However, written in terms of the Elsässer variables defined as z ± = v ± (4πρ) −1/2 b (v and b are the velocity and magnetic field respectively and ρ the mass density), they have the same structure as the Navier-Stokes equations [4]where P is the total hydromagnetic pressure, while ν is the viscosity and κ the magnetic diffusivity. In particular, the nonlinear term appears as z ∓ · ∇z ± , suggesting the form of a transport process, in which Alfvé...

Abstract.Plasma and magnetic field measurements by Ulysses are used to investigate the radial evolution of hourly-scale Alfv