Compressible Turbulence in the Near-Sun Solar Wind: Parker Solar Probe’s First Eight Perihelia

Abstract

Abstract Many questions remain about the compressibility of solar wind turbulence with respect to its origins and properties. Low plasma beta (ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure) environments allow for the easier generation of compressible turbulence, enabling study of the relationship between density fluctuations and turbulent Mach number. Utilizing Parker Solar Probe plasma data, we examine the normalized proton density fluctuations 〈 δ n p 2 〉 1 / 2 / 〈 n p 〉 = δ n p rms / 〈 n p 〉 as a function of turbulent Mach number M t conditioned on plasma beta and cross helicity. With consideration of statistical error in the parameters computed from in situ data, we find a general result that δ n p rms / 〈 n p 〉 ∼ M t 1.18 ± 0.04 , consistent with both linear-wave theory and nearly incompressible turbulence in an inhomogeneous background field. We compare observational results conditioned on plasma beta and cross helicity with 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations and observe rather significant similarities with respect to how those parameters affect the proportionality between density fluctuations and turbulent Mach number. This study further investigates the complexity of compressible turbulence as viewed by the density scaling relationship and may help better understand the compressible environment of the near-Sun solar wind.