HELIOSHEATH MAGNETIC FIELD AND PLASMA OBSERVED BY VOYAGER 2 DURING 2012 IN THE RISING PHASE OF SOLAR CYCLE 24
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Burlaga-2016-HELIOSHEATH MAGNETIC.pdf
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Author(s)
Burlaga, L. F.
Ness, N. F.
Decker, R. B.
Krimigis, S. M.
Richardson, John D.
Date Issued
February 2016
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Burlaga, L. F., N. F. Ness, J. D. Richardson, R. B. Decker, and S. M. Krimigis. “ HELIOSHEATH MAGNETIC FIELD AND PLASMA OBSERVED BY VOYAGER 2 DURING 2012 IN THE RISING PHASE OF SOLAR CYCLE 24 .” The Astrophysical Journal 818, no. 2 (February 18, 2016): 147. © 2016 The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We discuss magnetic field and plasma observations of the heliosheath made by Voyager 2 (V2) during 2012, when V2 was observing the effects of increasing solar activity following the solar minimum in 2009. The average magnetic field strength B was 0.14 nT and B reached 0.29 nT on day 249. V2 was in a unipolar region in which the magnetic polarity was directed away from the Sun along the Parker spiral 88% of the time, indicating that V2 was poleward of the heliospheric current sheet throughout most of 2012. The magnetic flux at V2 during 2012 was constant. A merged interaction region (MIR) was observed, and the flow speed increased as the MIR moved past V2. The MIR caused a decrease in the >70 MeV nuc[superscript −1] cosmic-ray intensity. The increments of B can be described by a q-Gaussian distribution with q = 1.2 ± 0.1 for daily averages and q = 1.82 ± 0.03 for hour averages. Eight isolated current sheets ("PBLs") and four closely spaced pairs of current sheets were observed. The average change of B across the current sheets was a factor of ≈2, and B increased or decreased with equal probability. Magnetic holes and magnetic humps were also observed. The characteristic size of the PBLs was ≈6 R[subscript L], where R[subscript L] is the Larmor radius of protons, and the characteristic sizes of the magnetic holes and humps were ≈38 R[subscript L] and ≈11 R[subscript L], respectively.
MIT Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/818/2/147
