Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 245001 (2002) [4 pages]Compressible Sub-Alfvénic MHD Turbulence in Low- β PlasmasReceived 1 March 2002; published 31 May 2002 We present a model for compressible sub-Alfvénic isothermal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in low- β plasmas and numerically test it. We separate MHD fluctuations into three distinct families: Alfvén, slow, and fast modes. We find that production of slow and fast modes by Alfvénic turbulence is suppressed. As a result, Alfvén modes in compressible regime exhibit scalings and anisotropy similar to those in incompressible regime. Slow modes passively mimic Alfvén modes. However, fast modes show isotropy and a scaling similar to acoustic turbulence. © 2002 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.245001
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.245001
PACS:
52.35.Bj, 47.65.+a, 52.30.-q, 52.35.Ra
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