Heliosphere Responds to a Large Solar Wind Intensification: Decisive Observations from IBEX

McComas, David J.; Dayeh, M. A.; Funsten, Herbert O.; Heerikhuisen, Jacob; Janzen, P. H.; Reisenfeld, Daniel B.; Schwadron, Nathan A.; Szalay, J. R.; Zirnstein, Eric J.

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aab611

Title: Heliosphere Responds to a Large Solar Wind Intensification: Decisive Observations from IBEX

Journal Article · 20 March 2018 · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aab611 · OSTI ID:1542836

^[1]; Dayeh, M. A. ^[2];

^[3]; Heerikhuisen, Jacob ^[4]; Janzen, P. H. ^[5];

^[5];

^[6];

^[1];

^[1]

Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL (United States)
Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)
Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)

Our heliosphere—the bubble in the local interstellar medium produced by the Sun's outflowing solar wind—has finally responded to a large increase in solar wind output and pressure in the second half of 2014. NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission remotely monitors the outer heliosphere by observing energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) returning from the heliosheath, the region between the termination shock and heliopause. IBEX observed a significant enhancement in higher energy ENAs starting in late 2016. While IBEX observations over the previous decade reflected a general reduction of ENA intensities, indicative of a deflating heliosphere, new observations show that the large (~50%), persistent increase in the solar wind dynamic pressure has modified the heliosheath, producing enhanced ENA emissions. The combination of these new observations with simulation results indicate that this pressure is re-expanding our heliosphere, with the termination shock and heliopause already driven outward in the locations closest to the Sun. The timing between the IBEX observations, a large transient pressure enhancement seen by Voyager 2, and the simulations indicates that the pressure increase propagated through the heliosheath, reflected off the heliopause, and the enhanced density of the solar wind filled the heliosheath behind it before generating significantly enhanced ENA emissions. As a result, the coming years should see significant changes in anomalous cosmic rays, galactic cosmic radiation, and the filtration of interstellar neutral atoms into the inner heliosphere.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1542836

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-18-26712

Journal Information:: The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 856, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-8213

Publisher:: Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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