Intermittency of solar wind density fluctuations and its relation to sharp density changes

The paper presents the study of turbulent properties of the solar wind plasma, namely, the intermittency of fluctuations of the solar wind ion flux in the earlier unexplored region of comparatively high frequencies (0.01–1 Hz). Special attention is given to a comparison of intermittency for solar wind observation intervals containing sharp (shorter than 10 min) and high-amplitude (greater than 20%) changes of the ion flux to intervals without such changes. The solar wind observation intervals containing sharp changes of the flux are found to be essentially more intermittent than the intervals of quiet solar wind. Such a comparison allows one to reveal the fundamental difference in turbulent properties of the solar wind depending on the presence or absence of sharp boundaries in plasma structures.