Coexistence of turbulence and discrete models in the solar wind

摘要

Motivated by apparently contradictory reports of turbulence and discrete frequencywave-like signals in the interplanetary medium, we employ numerical simulations toinvestigate the persistence of wave-like spatial structures in the presence of stronglow-frequency turbulence. We seek to identify the time scales and other conditions thatpermit them to remain as identifiable structures in the turbulent medium. The wave-likestructures are initialized as discrete modes in wave number in a series of spectral methodmagnetohydrodynamic turbulence computations. We find that discrete modes can survivefrom one to many nonlinear times and that the main factor that determines their survivabilityis the separation from turbulence in parallel wave number. This corresponds to a separationin their corresponding Alfven mode frequency.