Search for the Heliospheric Termination Shock (TS) and Heliosheath (HS)
- Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)
- NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
- Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
Voyager 1 continues to measure the very distant Heliospheric Magnetic Field (HMF) beyond 95 AU at {approx}35 North latitude. The MAG instrument data covers more than a full 22 years solar magnetic cycle. The magnitude of the observed HMF is well described, on average, by Parker's Archimedean spiral structure if due account is made for time variations of the source field strength and solar wind velocity. The V1 magnetic field observations do not provide any evidence for a field increase associated with entry into a subsonic solar wind region, such as the heliosheath is expected to be, nor an exit from this regime. We see no evidence for crossing of the Termination Shock (TS) as has been reported at {approx}85 AU by the LECP instrument. Merged Interaction Regions are identified by an increased HMF and associated decreases in the flux of >70 MeV/nuc cosmic rays which are then followed by a flux recovery. This CR-B relationship has been identified in V1 data and studied since 1982 when V1 was at 11 AU. The variance of HMF, a direct measure of the energy**1/2 in the HMF fluctuations, shows no significant changes associated with the alleged TS crossings in 2002-2003. Thus, the absence of any HMF increase at the entry into the heliosheath appears not to be due to the onset of mesoscale turbulence as proposed by Fisk. The TS has yet to be directly observed in-situ by the V1 MAG experiment in data through 2003.
- OSTI ID:
- 20719189
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 781, Issue 1; Conference: 4. annual IGPP international astrophysics conference, Palm Springs, CA (United States), 26 Feb - 3 Mar 2005; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2032707; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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