Testing for Markovian character and modeling of intermittency in solar wind turbulence.

We present results of statistical analysis of solar wind turbulence using an approach based on the theory of Markov processes. It is shown that the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation is approximately satisfied for the turbulent cascade. We evaluate the first two Kramers-Moyal coefficients from experimental data and show that the solution of the resulting Fokker-Planck equation agrees well with experimental probability distributions. Our analysis provides evidence that the transfer of fluctuations from large to smaller eddies must be independent of the dynamics on large scales and in particular it must be independent of the driving mechanisms for solar wind turbulence. Our results also suggest the presence of a local transfer mechanism for magnetic field fluctuations in solar wind turbulence.