Low-Frequency 1/f Noise in the Interplanetary Magnetic Field

W.H. Matthaeus, M.L. Goldstein

Physical Review Letters , vol 57, no. 4, 495-498(1986)

Abstract

Spacecraft observations of the interplanetary magnetic field at 1 AU (astronomical unit) are shown to have frequency spectra with a 1/f dependence in the range 2.7x10-6 to 8.0x10-5 Hz. We suggest that the 1/f spectrum results from the superposition of uncorrelated samples of solar surface turbulence that have log-normal distributions of correlation lengths corresponding to a scale-invariant distribution of correlation times over an appropriate range of parameters.

1/f in astronomy section