Nonlinear multiscale simulation of turbulent flux tubes

Abstract

A new method for the full nonlinear computation of sets of turbulent field lines has recently been introduced that allows inclusion of the equivalent of more than four decades of turbulent scales with a fully three-dimensional distribution of wavevectors. The integration scheme is here detailed, which, through transformation of the set of differential equations into mappings, compounds the efficiency and accuracy of the method. The potential of the method is then demonstrated with multiscale simulations of magnetic flux tubes ranging over nearly four decades of length scales both along and across the background field. Magnetic flux tubes of various sizes are computed for a turbulence spectrum typical of the quiet slow solar wind near 1 AU. Implications of the simulation results for the transport of energetic particles, and in particular, for the interpretation of impulsive solar-energetic-particle and upstream ion-event observations are discussed. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.