The project will examine the nature of plasma fluctuations in various regions of the magnetosphere using a new analytical method called rank-ordered multifractal analysis (ROMA). The goal is to understand the nonlinear stochastic behavior of space plasmas and in particular the phenomenon known as intermittent turbulence. In parallel with the analytical analysis, the project will use a combination of numerical and theoretical modeling called the Direct Simulation Renormalization Group (DSRG), which is a dynamical invariant theory appropriate for the quantitative study of crossover behavior of multifractals. Results from the theoretical and numerical analyses will be compared with observations obtained from satellite missions.
The analytical and numerical techniques that will be further developed by this project have the potential to not only provide a transformative view of plasma phenomena in Earth's magnetosphere, but have the potential to be widely used in the analysis of a wide array of phenomena beyond plasma physics.
