Wave Activity at MHD-ion Scales Associated with Switchbacks

Kyung‐Eun Choi; Oleksiy V. Agapitov; Forrest Mozer; Seung-Ju Yang; D Lee; Richard D. Sydora; Lucas Colomban; Liudmyla Kozak; Mingzhe Liu; Marc Pulupa; Jia Huang; Shaosui Xu

Wave Activity at MHD-ion Scales Associated with Switchbacks

Тип публікації :

Препринт

Дата випуску :

26 червня 2026 р.

Автор(и) :

Kyung‐Eun Choi

Oleksiy V. Agapitov

Forrest Mozer

Seung-Ju Yang

D Lee

Richard D. Sydora

Lucas Colomban

Liudmyla Kozak

Mingzhe Liu

Marc Pulupa

Jia Huang

Shaosui Xu

eKNUTSHIR URL :

https://ir.library.knu.ua/handle/15071834/34313

Журнал :

arXiv (Cornell University)

Цитування :

[APA 7] Kyung‐Eun, C., Oleksiy, V. A., Forrest, M., Seung-Ju, Y., D, L., Richard, D. S., Lucas, C., Liudmyla, K., Mingzhe, L., Marc, P., Jia, H., & Shaosui, X. (2026). Wave Activity at MHD-ion Scales Associated with Switchbacks. arXiv (Cornell University),. https://ir.library.knu.ua/handle/15071834/34313

[ДСТУ] Wave Activity at MHD-ion Scales Associated with Switchbacks / C. Kyung‐Eun та ін. arXiv (Cornell University). 2026. URL: https://ir.library.knu.ua/handle/15071834/34313 (дата звернення: 11.09.2026).

Magnetic switchbacks (SB) -- the localized magnetic structures with magnetic field direction inclined at an angle $θ$ relative to the background $B_0$ -- in the young solar wind have been associated with enhanced ion-scale wave activity and local plasma heating. It remains debated whether the apparent wave-power increase is intrinsic or mainly caused by sampling geometry. In this work, we analyze magnetic and electric field fluctuations measured by Parker Solar Probe, focusing on the 0.1--3~$f_{cp}$ frequency band that spans the transition from the MHD inertial range to ion-kinetic scales. By decomposing magnetic fluctuations into field-aligned and transverse components and comparing SB and non-SB intervals at the same local magnetic field angle, we test whether SBs sample an anisotropic cascade from different viewing angles or host intrinsically amplified wave activity. We find that the transverse magnetic power $δB_{\perp}$ is systematically enhanced inside switchbacks across a wide range of magnetic field rotation angles $θ$. The enhancement persists even at small and intermediate deflections, where geometric projection alone predicts weak power, indicating an intrinsic origin beyond sampling geometry. The inertial-range spectral indices also remain similar between SB and non-SB intervals despite the enhanced wave power inside SBs, suggesting that the underlying turbulence cascade is largely preserved. This excess $δB_{\perp}$ coincides with elevated proton temperatures and enhanced electric-field fluctuations, supporting the interpretation that SBs act as localized sites of cross-scale energy transfer and ion-scale dissipation in the near-Sun solar wind.

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9.89 MB

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