Dominant 2D magnetic turbulence in the solar wind

There have been recent suggestions that solar wind magnetic turbulence may be a composite of slab geometry (wavevectors aligned with the mean magnetic field) and 2D geometry (wavevectors perpendicular to the mean field). We report results of two new tests of this hypothesis using Hellos measurements of mid-inertial range magnetic spectra in the solar wind. The first test is based upon a characteristic difference between reduced magnetic power spectra in the two different directions perpendicular to the mean field. Such a difference is expected for 2D geometry but not for slab geometry. The second test examines the dependence of power spectrum density upon the magnetic field angle (i.e., the angle between the mean magnetic field and the radial direction), a relationship which is expected to be in opposite directions for the slab and 2D components. Both tests support the presence of a dominant (similar to 85 % by energy) 2D component in solar wind magnetic turbulence.