A Hilbert-Huang transform approach to space plasma turbulence at kinetic scales

Abstract

Heliospheric space plasmas are highly turbulent media and display multiscale fluctuations over a wide range of scales from the magnetohydrodynamic domain down to the kinetic one. The study of turbulence features is traditionally based on spectral and canonical structure function analysis. Here, we present an novel approach to the analysis of the multiscale nature of plasma turbulent fluctuations by means of Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT). In particular we present a preliminary application of this technique to magnetic field fluctuations at kinetic scales in a fast solar wind stream as observed by Cluster mission. The HHT-energy spectrum reveals the intermittent and multiscale nature of fluctuation frequency at kinetic scales indicating that there are no-persistent and long standing frequencies.