Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apj...469..921k&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.469, p.921
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
10
Ism: General, Hydrodynamics, Shock Waves, Sun: Solar Wind
Scientific paper
The interaction of the solar wind with neutral interstellar hydrogen is reconsidered. A detailed derivation of the well-known one-fluid hydrodynamic description of the solar wind modified by interstellar pickup ions is presented, based on a semikinetic guiding center description. This analysis clarifies several of the underlying assumptions implicit in Holzer's (1972) model. A brief discussion of stationary solar wind solutions modified by the interstellar neutral gas is given, and, on the basis of this analysis, we deduce that the termination shock may be interpreted as a surface of strong discontinuity with an attached weak discontinuity. Our principal result addresses the stability of the supersonic solar wind in the presence of mass, momentum, and energy loading. It is found that beyond 25 AU a gradient catastrophe can develop, which leads to the formation of the termination shock in the outer heliosphere. The location of the termination shock may be interpreted as due primarily to the properties of the interstellar neutrals (such as the value of their number density) rather than as due entirely to the balancing of the solar wind dynamic pressure and interstellar plasma pressure. Examples of recent multidimensional computations of the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium that include interstellar neutrals in a fully self-consistent manner are presented, and these provide support for the simpler one-dimensional analysis.
Khabibrakhmanov Ildar K.
Pauls Louis H.
Summers Danny
Zank Gary P.
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