Flow downstream of the heliospheric terminal shock. I - Irrotational flow

Details Flow downstream of the heliospheric terminal shock. I - Irrotational flow Flow downstream of the heliospheric terminal shock. I - Irrotational flow

May 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990jgr....95.6403s&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 95, May 1, 1990, p. 6403-6412. Research supported by NASA.

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41

Computational Astrophysics, Heliosphere, Potential Flow, Shock Waves, Solar Wind, Discontinuity, Incompressible Flow, Interstellar Magnetic Fields, Interstellar Radiation, Stagnation Point

Scientific paper

Recent reports of remote detection of the heliospheric terminal shock place it near 50 AU. These conflict with standard models which, when combined with current data on the local interstellar medium, place the shock beyond 100 AU. Resolution of this discrepancy has led to hypotheses that invoke cosmic ray pressure, momentum exchange with interstellar neutrals, and magnetic field effects between the shock and the contact discontinuity dividing the solar wind from interstellar plasma. These hypotheses depend not only on properties of the interstellar medium, but also on the downstream three-dimensional flow between the shock and the contact discontinuity, in the region called the 'heliosheath'. The downstream flow field in the absence of magnetic fields is examined here under the assumptions that the flow everywhere outside the shock can be approximated as irrotational and incompressible. It is found, in particular, that the distance between the terminal shock and the contact discontinuity is less than the heliocentric distance to the terminal shock, effectively eliminating magnetic field effects in the heliosheath as being dynamically important.

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