Modeling the Solar Wind at the Ulysses, Voyager, and New Horizons Spacecraft

Kim, T. K.; Pogorelov, N. V.; Zank, G. P.; Elliott, H. A.; McComas, D. J.

doi:10.3847/0004-637x/832/1/72

Cited by 38 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…However, the fluctuation from SWAP data is much larger than all the three simulations beyond 20 au, and the observed density is markedly higher than the simulated values at most of distances. This discrepancy is similar to the previous global MHD simulation in which the OMNI data was applied at the inner boundary (Kim et al 2016). Solar wind streams with different velocities gradually merge into a larger structure when propagating outward to a larger heliocentric distance (Gazis 2000).…”

Section: Numerical Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Propagation of Large-Scale Solar Wind Events in the Outer Heliosphere From a Numerical MHD Simulation

Guo

Zhou

Wang

et al. 2021

Earth and Planetary Physics

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Voyager 1 occasionally detected the sudden jumps of the local interstellar magnetic field strength since its heliopause crossing in August 2012. These events were believed to be associated with the outward propagating shocks that had the solar wind origin in the inner heliosphere. Here we investigate the correlation between the interstellar shocks and the large-scale solar wind events by means of the numerical MHD simulation. The solar wind is simplified as a symmetric flow near the equatorial plane, and the interstellar neutrals are treated as a constant flow with a fixed density distribution along the upwind direction of the local interstellar medium. The charge-exchange between the solar wind plasma and the interstellar neutrals are taken into account. At a heliocentric distance of 1 au, the solar wind data from OMNI, STEREO A and B during the period between the year 2010 and 2017, are used as the inner boundary conditions to drive the simulation. The simulation results showed that the solar wind gradually merge into large-scale structures as the radial distance increases, being consistent with the observations by New Horizons. After propagating into the inner heliosheath, the shocks are fully developed and the corresponding pressure pulses roughly agree with the observation by Voyager 2 in the inner heliosheath. The arrival of the shocks beyond heliopause are estimated and found to be consistent with the observed signatures of interstellar shocks by Voyager 1. The possible origins of the interstellar shocks in the inner heliosheath are discussed based on the simulation.

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Section: Numerical Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Propagation of Large-Scale Solar Wind Events in the Outer Heliosphere From a Numerical MHD Simulation

Guo

Zhou

Wang

et al. 2021

Earth and Planetary Physics

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“…A few attempts to create such model have been presented recently by Fermo et al (2015) and Kim et al (2016). In addition to the HP instability, the simulations presented here predict that V2 should observe more consequences of magnetic reconnection near the HP than V1 did.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Three-dimensional Features of the Outer Heliosphere Due to Coupling between the Interstellar and Heliospheric Magnetic Field. V. The Bow Wave, Heliospheric Boundary Layer, Instabilities, and Magnetic Reconnection

Pogorelov

Heerikhuisen

Roytershteyn

et al. 2017

ApJ

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The heliosphere is formed due to interaction between the solar wind (SW) and local interstellar medium (LISM). The shape and position of the heliospheric boundary, the heliopause, in space depend on the parameters of interacting plasma flows. The interplay between the asymmetrizing effect of the interstellar magnetic field and charge exchange between ions and neutral atoms plays an important role in the SW-LISM interaction. By performing three-dimensional, MHD plasma / kinetic neutral atom simulations, we determine the width of the outer heliosheath -the LISM plasma region affected by the presence of the heliosphere -and analyze quantitatively the distributions in front of the heliopause.It is shown that charge exchange modifies the LISM plasma to such extent that the contribution of a shock transition to the total variation of plasma parameters becomes small even if the LISM velocity exceeds the fast magnetosonic speed in the unperturbed medium. By performing adaptive mesh refinement simulations, we show that a distinct boundary layer of decreased plasma density and enhanced magnetic field should be observed on the interstellar side of the heliopause. We show that this behavior is in agreement with the plasma oscillations of increasing frequency observed by the plasma wave instrument onboard Voyager 1. We also demonstrate that Voyager observations in the inner heliosheath between the heliospheric termination shock and the heliopause are consistent with dissipation of the heliospheric magnetic field. The choice of LISM parameters in this analysis is based on the simulations that fit observations of energetic neutral atoms performed by IBEX.

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“…The procedure is described in more detail by Kim et al (2016) who used the same boundary conditions to reproduce large-scale fluctuations of the SW properties at Ulysses, Voyager, and New Horizons at various distances and latitudes between 1 and 80 au. While we estimated the magnetic field components at 1 au from OMNI |B| data in the form of Parker spiral field as done by Kim et al (2016), we further introduced a heliospheric current sheet (HCS) in the form of a tilted circle (Pogorelov et al 2007) whose tilt with respect to the Sun's rotation axis changed as a function of time according to the average HCS tilt provided by Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) (see the bottom panel of Figure 1). Furthermore, the polarity of magnetic field above and below the HCS at 1 au was instantaneously and simultaneously reversed during solar maximum in 2000 and 2013.…”

Section: Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Shocks Detected by Voyager 1 in the Local Interstellar Medium

Kim

Pogorelov

Burlaga

2017

ApJL

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The magnetometer (MAG) on Voyager 1 (V1 ) has been sampling the interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) since August 2012. The V1 MAG observations have shown draped ISMF in the very local interstellar medium disturbed occasionally by significant enhancements in magnetic field strength. Using a three-dimensional, data driven, multi-fluid model, we investigated these magnetic field enhancements beyond the heliopause that are supposedly associated with solar transients. To introduce time-dependent effects at the inner boundary at 1 astronomical unit, we used daily averages of the solar wind parameters from the OMNI data set. The model ISMF strength, direction, and proton number density are compared with V1 data beyond the heliopause. The model reproduced the large-scale fluctuations between 2012.652 and 2016.652, including major events around 2012.9 and 2014.6. The model also predicts shocks arriving at V1 around 2017.395 and 2019.502. Another model driven by OMNI data with interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) removed at the inner boundary suggests that ICMEs may play a significant role in the propagation of shocks into the interstellar medium.

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Modeling the Solar Wind at the Ulysses, Voyager, and New Horizons Spacecraft

Cited by 38 publications

References 46 publications

Propagation of Large-Scale Solar Wind Events in the Outer Heliosphere From a Numerical MHD Simulation

Propagation of Large-Scale Solar Wind Events in the Outer Heliosphere From a Numerical MHD Simulation

Three-dimensional Features of the Outer Heliosphere Due to Coupling between the Interstellar and Heliospheric Magnetic Field. V. The Bow Wave, Heliospheric Boundary Layer, Instabilities, and Magnetic Reconnection

Modeling Shocks Detected by Voyager 1 in the Local Interstellar Medium

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