AN INVESTIGATION INTO SOLAR-WIND PLASMA PERIODICITIES

Plasma and magnetic field data from the IMP 8 Earth-orbiting spacecraf t and plasma data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft are analyzed to determ ine their frequency spectra. The resulting spectra are compared with s olar oscillation mode frequencies which recent papers (particularly Th omson et al. [1995]) report are present in solar wind data. The freque ncy spectra of the plasma and magnetic field data sets are characteriz ed by a diverse set of strong peaks, many of which are stronger than t hose occurring at frequencies associated with solar oscillatory modes. The frequencies of these peaks are not consistent between data sets, making it unlikely that they represent solar oscillation modes. Althou gh the analysis technique used, the Lomb-Scargle method, does not perm it accurate assignment of statistical uncertainties, it is clear that solar oscillatory frequencies are not the major contributors to the fr equency spectra of these data.