Observations of the heliosheath and solar wind termination shock by Voyager 2

Details Observations of the heliosheath and solar wind termination shock by Voyager 2 Observations of the heliosheath and solar wind termination shock by Voyager 2

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsh14a..02b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SH14A-02

Physics

2124 Heliopause And Solar Wind Termination, 2126 Heliosphere/Interstellar Medium Interactions, 2134 Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma

Scientific paper

This paper describes the principal features of the magnetic field strength variations B(t) and their relationships to the plasma and energetic particles observed prior to and after the crossing of the termination shock (TS) by Voyager 2 (V2). The solar wind (pre TS crossing) and heliosheath (post TS crossing) data extend from DOY 1 through 241, 2007 and from 2007 DOY 245 through 2008 DOY 80, respectively. In the solar wind, two merged interaction regions (MIRs) were observed in which the ratio beta of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure in the solar wind (excluding pickup protons) was relatively low, suggesting that they were formed from ejecta carrying strong magnetic fields away from the sun. Strong magnetic fields and low values of beta were also observed by V2 in the solar wind just prior to its crossing of the TS; it is possible that an MIR contributed to forming this structure, in addition to processes associated with the TS. The predicted correlation between peaks in the intensity of energetic particles in the solar wind when V2 crossed the heliospheric current sheet from positive to negative magnetic polarity in the solar wind was not observed. In the heliosheath, 40 days after crossing the TS, V2 observed a transition from small amplitude fluctuations in 24-hour averages B on a scale of days to large amplitude fluctuations of B on a scale of the order of ten days. A feature was observed in the heliosheath characterized by large enhancements of the density N and the proton temperature T, a small increase in speed V, and a depression in B producing an anticorrelation between the magnetic pressure and plasma pressure; this feature was not a MIR. The ratios of the average values of B, N, and 1/V in the heliosheath to the corresponding values of B, N, and 1/V in the solar wind are approximately the same (2.5, 2.0, and 2.6, respectively), consistent with a nearly perpendicular termination shock on average. The distributions of B and beta were approximately lognormal in both the solar wind and the heliosheath. The average of beta increased from 0.4 in the solar wind to 1.3 in the heliosheath. A unipolar region was observed for 73 days in heliosheath, as the heliospheric current sheet moved towards equatorial plane to latitudes lower than V2.

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