A self‐consistent gasdynamic model of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium (LISM), which took into account the mutual influence of the plasma component (electrons and protons) of the LISM and the LISM H atoms that penetrate into the heliosphere was constructed by Baranov et al. (1981) in the approximation of axial symmetry. This model, however, had a number of defects. In particular, the motion of the H atoms was described by hydrodynamical equations, although the mean free path of the H atoms and the characteristic length of the problem were comparable. An iterative method, that used a Monte Carlo simulation of H atom motion in the field of the plasma component hydrodynamic parameters, was suggested by Baranov et al. (1991) and only the first step of the iteration was realized (non‐self‐consistent problem solution). In this paper the results of the self‐consistent problem solution for a single set of the undisturbed solar wind and LISM parameters are presented. The structure of the upwind as well as wake regions of the flow is calculated. The geometrical pattern of the flow (bow shock, heliopause, termination shock, Mach disc, etc), the bulk velocity and the number densities of H atoms and plasma component are obtained and analyzed as a function of the distance from the Sun for different values of the polar angle. The effects of resonance charge exchange of the LISM H atoms as well as energetic H atoms “born” in the solar wind are taken into account. It is interesting to note that the effect of H atoms penetrating the solar wind results in the disappearance of the complicated flow structure as well as the supersonic regions between the heliopause and termination shock in the downwind region. In future we are going to compare our theoretical results with the results of Voyager 1/2, Pioneer 10/11, Ulysses spacecraft, and other experiments.
We present a new model of the heliospheric interface -the region of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium. This new model performs a multi-component treatment of charged particles in the heliosphere. All charged particles are divided into several co-moving types. The coldest type, with parameters typical of original solar wind protons, is considered in the framework of fluid approximation. The hot pickup proton components created from interstellar H atoms and heliospheric ENAs by charge exchange, electron impact ionization and photoionization are treated kinetically. The charged components are considered self-consistently with interstellar H atoms, which are described kinetically as well. To solve the kinetic equation for H atoms we use the Monte Carlo method with splitting of trajectories, which allows us 1) to reduce statistical uncertainties allowing correct interpretation of observational data; 2) to separate all H atoms in the heliosphere into several populations depending on the place of their birth and on the type of parent protons.
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