Alternative derivation of exact law for compressible and isothermal magnetohydrodynamics turbulence

Abstract

The exact law for fully developed homogeneous compressible magnetohydrodynamics (CMHD) turbulence is derived. For an isothermal plasma, without the assumption of isotropy, the exact law is expressed as a function of the plasma velocity field, the compressible Alfvén velocity and the scalar density, instead of the Elsässer variables used in previous works. The theoretical results show four different types of terms that are involved in the nonlinear cascade of the total energy in the inertial range. Each category is examined in detail, in particular those that can be written either as source or flux terms. Finally, the role of the background magnetic field $B_0$ is highlighted and comparison with the incompressible MHD (IMHD) model is discussed. This point is particularly important when testing the exact law on numerical simulations and in situ observations in space plasmas.