Three-Dimensional Energy Transfer in Space Plasma Turbulence from Multipoint Measurement

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Dec 1;131(22):225201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.225201.

Abstract

A novel multispacecraft technique applied to Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission data in the Earth's magnetosheath enables evaluation of the energy cascade rate from the full Yaglom's equation. The method differs from existing approaches in that it (i) is inherently three-dimensional, (ii) provides a statistically significant number of estimates from a single data stream, and (iii) allows visualization of energy flux in turbulent plasmas. This new "lag polyhedral derivative ensemble" technique exploits ensembles of tetrahedra in lag space and established curlometerlike algorithms.