SECTORS AND LARGE-SCALE MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH FLUCTUATIONS IN THE HELIOSHEATH NEAR 110 AU: VOYAGER 1, 2009
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 673, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
This paper describes observations of daily averages of the magnetic field strength B and the magnetic polarity measured by Voyager 1 (V1) in the heliosheath during 2009 between 108.5 and 112.1 AU and at heliographic latitude 34.{sup 0}4. A negative magnetic polarity sector was observed during 2009 DOY 43-255. A positive polarity sector was observed during 2009 DOY 256-365. We offer the hypothesis that the existence of the two sectors is the result of the displacement of the wavy heliospheric current sheet to the position of V1 as a result of northward flow in the heliosheath. The large size of the sectors is caused by the slow radial motion of the flow observed by V1 in the heliosheath. The distribution of B during 2009 was lognormal, in contrast to the Gaussian distributions observed by V1 in the heliosheath prior to 2009. The large-scale fluctuations of B, described by the distribution of increments of daily averages of B, have a Tsallis distribution with q = 1.6. The large-scale fluctuations of B observed by V1 during 2009 have a multifractal spectrum with the same parameters that V1 observed during 2005 close to the termination shock at 94 AU. These results suggest that the large-scale magnetic fluctuations of B are in a metastable equilibrium state in the heliosheath between 94 AU and 112.1 AU.
- OSTI ID:
- 21474354
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 725, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/725/1/1306; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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