Turbulent Energy Cascade Rate in the Magnetic Reconnection Exhaust in the Solar Wind

Abstract The turbulent energy cascade rate in the inertial range has been extensively studied in various space plasma environments, including the solar wind, and Earth’s magnetosheath and magnetotail. However, the energy cascade rate in the magnetic reconnection exhaust in the solar wind remains unexplored. Here, we present the first investigation of the energy cascade rate in the solar wind magnetic reconnection exhausts using high-resolution data from the Wind spacecraft. Analyzing 79 solar wind reconnection events observed at 1 au, we compute the energy cascade rate for each event utilizing both incompressible and compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence models. Our results reveal that the energy cascade rate across the inertial range in the exhaust reaches ~10 4 J kg −1 s −1 , roughly 1 order of magnitude higher than in the nonreconnection region in the solar wind. Furthermore, we find that the energy cascade rate in the exhaust exhibits a strong correlation with the outflow velocity. These findings advance our understanding of turbulent energy transfer in the solar wind turbulence and provide new insights into the dynamics of space plasmas.