Solar Wind Turbulence Spectra and Correlation Scale from 4 to 50 r_⊙: STEREO and PUNCH Observations

Abstract

We investigate the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence using remote-sensing brightness observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the first science-ready images from the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. Exploiting the combined wide fields of view of STEREO's COR2 coronagraph (4-9 r_sun) and PUNCH's Wide Field Imager (WFI, 21-50 r_sun), we track the radial evolution of the power spectral density and correlation scale of density fluctuations from 4 to 50 r_sun. Line-of-sight integration systematically steepens the "usual" turbulence scaling laws by a constant offset of about -0.5 across all resolved scales, so that the energy-containing range (nominally k^-1) and the inertial range (nominally k^-5/3) appear as k^-1.5 and k^-2.1, respectively -- consistent with previous synthetic-image simulations. The correlation scale increases with heliocentric distance across the full range of heliodistances probed, in accordance with previous theoretical models and observations at closer distances from the Sun.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{pecora2026solar,
  title = {{Solar Wind Turbulence Spectra and Correlation Scale from 4 to 50 $r_\odot$: STEREO and PUNCH Observations}},
  author = {F. Pecora and G. Nisticò and R. Chhiber and Y. Yang and S. Adhikari and J. Wang and R. Patel and Z. Gao and C. DeForest and S. E. Gibson and N. Viall and M. N. Beasley and R. C. Colaninno and J. M. Hughes and R. Killough and D. A. Lamb and G. T. Laurent and C. Lowder and J. Redfern and D. B. Seaton and S. Van Kooten and N. R. Waltham and W. L. Wells and W. H. Matthaeus},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.03328},
  eprint = {2611.03328},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03328},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Solar Wind Turbulence Spectra and Correlation Scale from 4 to 50 r_⊙: STEREO and PUNCH Observations
AU  - F. Pecora
AU  - G. Nisticò
AU  - R. Chhiber
AU  - Y. Yang
AU  - S. Adhikari
AU  - J. Wang
AU  - R. Patel
AU  - Z. Gao
AU  - C. DeForest
AU  - S. E. Gibson
AU  - N. Viall
AU  - M. N. Beasley
AU  - R. C. Colaninno
AU  - J. M. Hughes
AU  - R. Killough
AU  - D. A. Lamb
AU  - G. T. Laurent
AU  - C. Lowder
AU  - J. Redfern
AU  - D. B. Seaton
AU  - S. Van Kooten
AU  - N. R. Waltham
AU  - W. L. Wells
AU  - W. H. Matthaeus
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/02
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.03328
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.03328
AB  - We investigate the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence using remote-sensing brightness observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the first science-ready images from the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. Exploiting the combined wide fields of view of STEREO's COR2 coronagraph (4-9 r_sun) and PUNCH's Wide Field Imager (WFI, 21-50 r_sun), we track the radial evolution of the power spectral density and correlation scale of density fluctuations from 4 to 50 r_sun. Line-of-sight integration systematically steepens the "usual" turbulence scaling laws by a constant offset of about -0.5 across all resolved scales, so that the energy-containing range (nominally k^-1) and the inertial range (nominally k^-5/3) appear as k^-1.5 and k^-2.1, respectively -- consistent with previous synthetic-image simulations. The correlation scale increases with heliocentric distance across the full range of heliodistances probed, in accordance with previous theoretical models and observations at closer distances from the Sun.
ER  -

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