Studies in the Sensitivity of IBEX to Variable Heliosphere Boundary Conditions

Details Studies in the Sensitivity of IBEX to Variable Heliosphere Boundary Conditions Studies in the Sensitivity of IBEX to Variable Heliosphere Boundary Conditions

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsh21b1515f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SH21B-1515

Physics

[2126] Interplanetary Physics / Heliosphere/Interstellar Medium Interactions, [2144] Interplanetary Physics / Interstellar Gas, [2151] Interplanetary Physics / Neutral Particles

Scientific paper

IBEX observations of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) are providing the first all-sky maps of the remote interaction regions between the solar wind and interstellar gas. These ENAs are byproducts of the interaction between interstellar neutral atoms and the solar wind, and as such provide information on the physical conditions of the interstellar cloud surrounding, and forming the boundary conditions of, the heliosphere. Astronomical data indicate that the Sun is presently traveling through a 'cloud' that extends less than a few thousand AU in the upwind direction. If the Sun emerges from this cloud during the lifetime of the IBEX satellite, will IBEX recognize the new boundary conditions imposed on the heliosphere by this upwind cloud? In order to answer this question we construct three-dimensional MHD plasma models of the heliosphere that include a kinetic description of neutrals to correctly describe suprathermal protons in the heliosheath regions, and that are constrained by the estimated physical properties, including the magnetic field, of the upwind interstellar cloud. The ENA fluxes predicted by these models are then compared with IBEX data and sensitivities. As the theoretical models of ENA production become increasingly accurate, we expect that studies such as this will yield definitive information on the heliosphere boundary conditions and therefore the physical properties of the interstellar cloud around the Sun.

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