Subgrid-scale modeling for the study of compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in space plasmas

A state-of-the-art review is given of research by computing physics methods on compressible magnetohydro„dynamic turbulence in space plasmas. The presence of magnetic fields and compressibility in this case makes space plasma turbulence much less amenable to direct numerical simulations than a neutral incompressible fluid. The large eddy simulation method is discussed, which was developed as an alternative to direct modeling and which filters the initial magnetohydrodynamic equations and uses the subgrid-scale modeling of universal small-scale turbulence. A detailed analysis is made of both the method itself and different subgrid-scale parametrizations for compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulent flows in polytropic and heat-conducting plasmas. The application of subgrid-scale modeling to study turbulence in the local interstellar medium and the scale-invariant spectra of magneto„hydrodynamic turbulence are discussed.