THE STELLAR WIND REGIONS

Technical Report · Tue Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1960

OSTI ID:4016511

Parker, E N

From the observations of the solar wind and of the Mgiant alpha - Herculis the gross dynamical features of the stellar wind regions associated with class G main sequence and Mgiant stars are given for various interstellar environments. The supersonic wind from a class G star undergoes a shock transition to subsonic flow at a radial distance of lO/sup 2/--lO/sup 3/ a.u. and may extend many times farther as a subsonic flow. This subsonic flow will be subject to turbulence and other instabilities in many cases. The wind from an M- giant may extend many parsecs if the M-giant phase of evolution lasts long enough for its wind to approach equilibrium; the resultaint interstellar contamination and heating is important for a distance of many parsecs. A rough calculation of the cavity formed by a stellar wind in a large-scale interstellar field is carried out, and it is found that the cavity shape and dimensions for stationary flow depend upon the back pressure at infinity. As the pressure increases, the cavity changes from a circular cylinder of infinite radius, through an increasingly bulbous shape of finite radius, to a sphere of infinite radius with one finite cylindrical channel from each pole. (auth)

• Research Organization: Chicago. Univ. Enrico Fermi Inst. for Nuclear Studies
• NSA Number: NSA-15-017464
• OSTI ID: 4016511
• Report Number(s): AFOSR-403
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC RADIATION
EMISSION
HIGH TEMPERATURE
NUMERICALS
PHYSICS
PLASMA
PRESSURE
SHOCK WAVES
SOLAR WIND
STARS
SUN
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY