MAGNETIC FLUX CONSERVATION IN THE HELIOSHEATH
Name
Richardson-2013-MAGNETIC FLUX CONSER.pdf
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479.98 KB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9d5532d3cda978f1f877e482738fd57d
Author(s)
Burlaga, L. F.
Decker, R. B.
Drake, J. F.
Ness, N. F.
Opher, M.
Richardson, John D.
Date Issued
December 2012
Journal
Astrophysical Journal. Letters
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Richardson, J. D., L. F. Burlaga, R. B. Decker, J. F. Drake, N. F. Ness, and M. Opher. “MAGNETIC FLUX CONSERVATION IN THE HELIOSHEATH.” The Astrophysical Journal 762, no. 1 (December 12, 2012): L14. © 2013 The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Voyager 1(V1) and Voyager 2(V2) have observed heliosheath plasma since 2005 December and 2007 August, respectively. The observed speed profiles are very different at the two spacecrafts. Speeds at V1 decreased to zero in 2010 while the average speed at V2 is a constant 150 km s[superscript –1] with the direction rotating tailward. The magnetic flux is expected to be constant in these heliosheath flows. We show that the flux is constant at V2 but decreases by an order of magnitude at V1, even after accounting for divergence of the flows and changes in the solar field. If reconnection were responsible for this decrease, the magnetic field would lose 70% of its free energy to reconnection and the energy density released would be 0.6 eV cm[superscript –3].
MIT Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/762/1/l14
