Multipoint Turbulence Analysis with Helioswarm

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how the Helioswarm multi-satellite constellation can accurately measure plasma turbulence properties using advanced statistical techniques, enhancing understanding of astrophysical turbulence.

Contribution

It introduces novel increment-based methods for analyzing turbulence statistics and validates them through simulations of the Helioswarm configuration.

Findings

Helioswarm can accurately estimate multidimensional spectra.

The methods enable precise calculation of turbulent energy flux.

Simulations show potential for new insights into plasma turbulence.

Abstract

Exploration of plasma dynamics in space, including turbulence, is entering a new era of multi-satellite constellation measurements that will determine fundamental properties with unprecedented precision. Familiar but imprecise approximations will need to be abandoned and replaced with more advanced approaches. We present a preparatory study of the evaluation of second- and third-order statistics, using simultaneous measurements at many points. Here, for specificity, the orbital configuration of the NASA Helioswarm mission is employed in conjunction with three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics numerical simulations of turbulence. The Helioswarm 9-spacecraft constellation flies virtually through the turbulence to compare results with the exact numerical statistics. We demonstrate novel increment-based techniques for the computation of (1) the multidimensional spectra and (2) the turbulent energy flux. This latter increment-space estimate of the cascade rate, based on the third-order Yaglom-Politano-Pouquet theory, uses numerous increment-space tetrahedra. Our investigation reveals that Helioswarm will provide crucial information on the nature of astrophysical turbulence.