RADIAL VELOCITY ALONG THE VOYAGER 1 TRAJECTORY: THE EFFECT OF SOLAR CYCLE

As Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are approaching the heliopause (HP)-the boundary between the solar wind (SW) and the local interstellar medium (LISM)-we expect new, unknown features of the heliospheric interface to be revealed. A seeming puzzle reported recently by Krimigis et al. concerns the unusually...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2012-05, Vol.750 (1), p.1-6
Main Authors: Pogorelov, N V, Borovikov, S N, Zank, G P, BURLAGA, L F, Decker, R A, Stone, E C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Boundaries
Computer simulation
Heliopause
HELIOSPHERE
INTERFACES
Ion distribution
Local interstellar medium
MAGNETIC FIELDS
Mathematical models
PLASMA
RADIAL VELOCITY
SOLAR CYCLE
Solar cycles
SOLAR WIND
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
SURFACES
TAIL IONS
TIME DEPENDENCE
VOYAGER SPACE PROBES
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Summary:As Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are approaching the heliopause (HP)-the boundary between the solar wind (SW) and the local interstellar medium (LISM)-we expect new, unknown features of the heliospheric interface to be revealed. A seeming puzzle reported recently by Krimigis et al. concerns the unusually low, even negative, radial velocity components derived from the energetic ion distribution. Steady-state plasma models of the inner heliosheath (IHS) show that the radial velocity should not be equal to zero even at the surface of the HP. Here we demonstrate that the velocity distributions observed by Voyager 1 are consistent with time-dependent simulations of the SW-LISM interaction. In this Letter, we analyze the results from a numerical model of the large-scale heliosphere that includes solar cycle effects. Our simulations show that prolonged periods of low to negative radial velocity can exist in the IHS at substantial distances from the HP. It is also shown that Voyager 1 was more likely to observe such regions than Voyager 2.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/750/1/L4