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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

Intermittent Magnetic Rotations in the Solar Wind

  • N. H. Bian1
  • Gang Li1
  • S. Y. Huang2
  • A. Chian3,4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Macau University of Science and Technology
  2. 2Wuhan University
  3. 3Adelaide University
  4. 4National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
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Abstract

Solar-wind streams are turbulent and dominated by changes of the magnetic-field direction at almost constant field intensity. The time evolution of rotations undergone by the magnetic-field vector over a given timescale is modeled on the basis of the exponential Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process in a way that is consistent with in situ measurements of a nearly lognormal distribution of the magnetic-field increment magnitude normalized by the field intensity. The approach yields insights on observables related to magnetic-field rotation measurements such as level-crossing and waiting-time distributions. Large-deviation regimes are investigated in more detail. It is shown that over times longer than the correlation time, the occurrence of large rotations becomes a Poisson renewal process. The power-law component of the waiting-time distribution, over times much shorter than the correlation time, reflects the roughness of the field fluctuations. The model provides theoretical foundations for understanding the physical mechanisms governing the dynamical evolution of intermittent magnetic fields, rotational discontinuities, and current sheets in astrophysical plasma turbulence.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{bian2026intermittent,
  title = {{Intermittent Magnetic Rotations in the Solar Wind}},
  author = {N. H. Bian and Gang Li and S. Y. Huang and A. Chian},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aea087},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea087},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Intermittent Magnetic Rotations in the Solar Wind
AU  - N. H. Bian
AU  - Gang Li
AU  - S. Y. Huang
AU  - A. Chian
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/aea087
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea087
AB  - Solar-wind streams are turbulent and dominated by changes of the magnetic-field direction at almost constant field intensity. The time evolution of rotations undergone by the magnetic-field vector over a given timescale is modeled on the basis of the exponential Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process in a way that is consistent with in situ measurements of a nearly lognormal distribution of the magnetic-field increment magnitude normalized by the field intensity. The approach yields insights on observables related to magnetic-field rotation measurements such as level-crossing and waiting-time distributions. Large-deviation regimes are investigated in more detail. It is shown that over times longer than the correlation time, the occurrence of large rotations becomes a Poisson renewal process. The power-law component of the waiting-time distribution, over times much shorter than the correlation time, reflects the roughness of the field fluctuations. The model provides theoretical foundations for understanding the physical mechanisms governing the dynamical evolution of intermittent magnetic fields, rotational discontinuities, and current sheets in astrophysical plasma turbulence.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -