Studies of Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence and Turbulence in the Corona and Interplanetary Medium

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The investigators will perform theoretical investigations of incompressible and nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and anisotropic linear cascades in the corona and interplanetary medium. Complex nonlinear dynamical behavior, or turbulence, is observed in space plasmas over a wide range of scales that may be described by a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. Many phenomena in the extended solar corona, including the solar wind, in the magnetosphere, and in the interstellar medium may involve turbulence. Turbulence is likely to have importance in coronal heating, the acceleration of solar wind, and the acceleration and diffusion of energetic particles. An integrated approach will be adopted using MHD and fluid simulation techniques, transport theory, analytic theory of turbulence and particle diffusion, and related analysis and interpretation of spacecraft observations. Work in basic MHD theory will include development and refinement of phenomenologies for MHD relaxation and decay processes, further characterization of the nature of MHD spectral anisotropy, and information theory-based attempts to advance a description of coherent structures in MHD turbulence. Advances in phenomenologies and transport models will be used to further develop scattering and transport theories of cosmic rays. Long-term goals are self-consistent models of coronal heating and the acceleration and evolution of the solar wind.