One- versus Two-Shock Heliosphere: Constraining Models with Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph Ly alpha Spectra toward alpha Centauri

Details One- versus Two-Shock Heliosphere: Constraining Models with Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph Ly alpha Spectra toward alpha Centauri One- versus Two-Shock Heliosphere: Constraining Models with Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph Ly alpha Spectra toward alpha Centauri

Sep 1997

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997apj...487..259g&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal v.487, p.259

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

51

Interplanetary Medium, Ism: General, Shock Waves

Scientific paper

Redshifted Ly alpha absorption toward alpha Cen has been interpreted by Linsky & Wood and Frisch et al. as evidence for decelerated interstellar hydrogen piled up on the upstream side of the heliosphere. We utilize newly developed two-dimensional multifluid models of the solar wind interaction with the interstellar material to corroborate this interpretation by synthesizing the Ly alpha absorption profile predicted for this "hydrogen wall." Both subsonic and supersonic inflow into the heliosphere are considered, corresponding to one-shock and two-shock global morphologies, respectively. We find that these two extremes give observably different redward absorption characteristics in the Ly alpha profiles, and our preliminary conclusion is that the Ly alpha profiles seen toward alpha Cen favor a barely subsonic model (Mach number 0.9). For such a model to hold, additional interstellar pressure terms, such as cosmic-ray or magnetic pressures, must contribute. To make this conclusion more certain, an extended-model parameter survey is required, coupled with Ly alpha data along other lines of sight.

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