Alfven intermittent turbulence in space plasmas

We investigate the onset of intermittent chaos in the phase dynamics of nonlinear Alfven waves in the solar wind by using the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (KS) equation as a model for phase dynamics. We focus on the role of nonattracting chaotic solutions of the KS equation, known as chaotic saddles, in the transition from weak chaos to strong chaos and show how two of these unstable chaotic saddles can interact to produce the plasma intermittency observed in the strongly chaotic regimes. The dynamical systems approach discussed in this work can lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for intermittency in solar wind plasmas.