Guido Boffetta is a physicist whose research includes turbulence and nonlinear dynamical systems. His University of Turin profile identifies work in turbulence research groups and projects on extreme events in turbulent convection.[ref]
A 1999 first-authored paper with Vincenzo Carbone, Pierluigi Veltri and other collaborators tested models of solar flares using the time between successive bursts. Twenty years of observations showed a power law in those intervals, with an exponent near . The comparison challenged the Poisson-like timing predicted by particular models and tested a shell model of turbulence against several observed distributions.[ref]
The methodological point is that matching burst sizes is different from matching burst timing. In an ideal constant-rate Poisson process, the probability of waiting longer than is ; a persistent power-law tail has a different pattern. This supplies an additional observable with which to distinguish models. It does not mean that a fitted exponent alone uniquely identifies the physical mechanism.
Guido Boffetta, identified portrait on his University of Turin profile
. External image from Guido Boffetta profile by the University of Turin. New to topics? Read the docs here!