Waiting-time distributions of magnetic discontinuities: Clustering or Poisson process?

GRECO, A.; MATTHAEUS, W. H.; SERVIDIO, S.; DMITRUK, P.

PHYSICAL REVIEW E - STATISTICAL PHYSICS, PLASMAS, FLUIDS AND RELATED INTERDISCIPLINARY TOPICS

AMER PHYS SOC

Año: 2009 vol. 80 p. 464011 - 464018

1063-651X

Using solar wind data from the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft, with the support of Hall magnetohydrodynamic simulations, the waiting-time distributions of magnetic discontinuities have been analyzed. A possible phenomenon of clusterization of these discontinuities is studied in detail. We perform a local Poisson s analysis in order to establish if these intermittent events are randomly distributed or not. Possible implications about the nature of solar wind discontinuities are discussed.