Consequences of the Heliopause Instability Caused by Charge Exchange

Borovikov, S. N.; Pogorelov, N. V.; Zank, G. P.; Kryukov, I. A.

doi:10.1086/589634

Cited by 57 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…This is why, we use a multi-fluid model here with 4 neutral fluids involved. It is interesting to see an agreement between -15 -simulations of Borovikov et al (2008b) and analytic analysis of Ruderman (2015) regarding the HP instability on its flanks. Both analyses demonstrate that charge exchange is primarily responsible for the flank destabilization, whereas it is further influenced by the shear flow in the HP vicinity.…”

Section: Instabilities and Magnetic Reconnection Near The Heliopausementioning

confidence: 79%

“…Charge exchange between ions and neutral atoms play an important role here through the action of the source terms in the momentum and energy equations. Near the stagnation point, where the shear between the SW and LISM flow is small, charge exchange results in a sort of Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability (Liewer et al 1996;Zank 1999;Florinski et al 2005;Borovikov et al 2008b), which is known to take place when a heavier fluid lies upon a lighter one. Farther from the stagnation point, the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) and other instabilities may develop (Ruderman 2015).…”

Section: Instabilities and Magnetic Reconnection Near The Heliopausementioning

confidence: 99%

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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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Section: Instabilities and Magnetic Reconnection Near The Heliopausementioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Instabilities and Magnetic Reconnection Near The Heliopausementioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…In addition to interstellar turbulence waves may be excited due to large-scale motions in the OHS. Some possible drivers include the solar wind large-scale transient structures and the solar-cycle dynamic pressure variations (Zank & Müller 2003;Scherer & Fahr 2003;Izmodenov et al 2005), and the instability of the heliopause due to a difference in charge-exchange rates across the boundary (Liewer et al 1996;Zank et al 1996;Florinski et al 2005;Borovikov et al 2008). The scale of these motions is expected to be significantly shorter than the interstellar turbulent scales, perhaps on the order of 50 AU.…”

Section: Fluctuation Spectra: Interstellar Versus Localmentioning

confidence: 99%

STABILITY OF A PICKUP ION RING-BEAM POPULATION IN THE OUTER HELIOSHEATH: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIBEXRIBBON

Florinski

Zank

Heerikhuisen

et al. 2010

ApJ

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First results from NASA's Interplanetary Boundary Explorer mission showed an unexpected "ribbon" of enhanced energetic neutral atom (ENA) flux spanning most of the sky. One explanation put forward suggests that the ribbon may be produced by secondary ENAs originating from pickup ions (PUIs) in the outer heliosheath (OHS). These PUIs are generated when primary ENAs born in the solar wind and inner heliosheath cross the heliopause and charge exchange in the nearby interstellar medium. One of the core assumptions underpinning this theory is that the newly born PUI ring is relatively stable with respect to wave generation, so that it can undergo charge exchange before becoming isotropized. We test this assumption using a linear kinetic theory and hybrid simulations of a low-density PUI ring interacting with instability-generated waves in a warm plasma of the OHS. It is shown that a broadband spectrum of waves is excited as a result of the cyclotron instability that efficiently scatters the ring ions. We also show that the ambient fluctuations in the OHS are unlikely to produce a measurable degree of resonant scattering of PUIs because their intensity is too low compared with the waves excited by the instability.

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“…One possibility is that the mixed polarity field would become disordered. In the region near the heliopause there are reasons to expect increased turbulence (Fahr et al 1986;Borovikov et al 2008), in particular in the plasma velocity field. This may combine with magnetic reconnection and lead to the HCS and the magnetic field structure with less long-range order.…”

Section: Pile-up Region In the Forward Heliosheathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure of the heliospheric current sheet from plasma convection in time-dependent heliospheric models

Czechowski¹,

Strumik²,

Grygorczuk³

et al. 2010

A&A

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Context. The heliospheric current sheet is a plasma layer dividing the heliosphere into the regions of different magnetic field polarity. Since it is very thin compared to the size of the system, it is difficult to incorporate into the numerical models of the heliosphere. Because of the solar magnetic field reversals and the diverging and slowing down plasma flow in the outer heliosphere, the heliospheric current sheet is expected to have a complicated structure, with important consequences for transport processes in the heliosheath. Aims. We determine the shape and time evolution of the current sheet in selected time-dependent 3-D models of the heliosphere, assuming that the heliospheric current sheet is a tangential discontinuity convected by the plasma flow. Methods. We have derived the shape of the heliospheric current sheet at a given time by following the plasma flow lines originating at the neutral line on the source surface surrounding the Sun. The plasma flow was obtained from numerical MHD or gas-dynamical solutions.Results. The large-scale structure of the magnetic field polarity regions and the heliospheric current sheet in time-dependent asymmetric models of the heliosphere differs from the results obtained in simpler models. In particular, in the forward heliosheath it is characterized by secondary folds in the heliospheric current sheet that are caused by the solar wind latitudinal variation over the solar cycle. We present examples illustrating some cases of interest: a "bent" current sheet, and the HCS structure during the magnetic field reversal at the solar maximum. We also discuss the evolution of the magnetic polarity structure in the region close to the heliopause.

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Consequences of the Heliopause Instability Caused by Charge Exchange

Cited by 57 publications

References 38 publications

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

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

STABILITY OF A PICKUP ION RING-BEAM POPULATION IN THE OUTER HELIOSHEATH: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIBEXRIBBON

Structure of the heliospheric current sheet from plasma convection in time-dependent heliospheric models

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