Draping of the Interstellar Magnetic Field over the Heliopause - A Passive Field Model
arXiv:1504.00585 · doi:10.1088/0004-637X/805/2/153
Abstract
As the local interstellar plasma flows past our heliosphere, it is slowed and deflected around the magnetic obstacle of the heliopause. The interstellar magnetic field, frozen into this plasma, then becomes draped around the heliopause in a characteristic manner. We derive the analytical solution for this draped magnetic field in the limit of weak field intensity, assuming an ideal potential flow around the heliopause, which we model as a Rankine half-body. We compare the structure of the model magnetic field with observed properties of the IBEX ribbon and with in situ observations at the Voyager 1 spacecraft. We find reasonable qualitative agreement, given the idealizations of the model. This agreement lends support to the secondary ENA model of the IBEX ribbon and to the interpretation that Voyager 1 has crossed the heliopause. We also predict that the magnetic field measured by Voyager 2 after it crosses the heliopause will not be significantly rotated away from the direction of the undisturbed interstellar field.
arXiv commentAstrophysical Journal, in press
References in corpus (17)
- Draping of Cluster Magnetic Fields over Bullets and Bubbles -- Morphology and Dynamic Effects
- Effects of a Local Interstellar Magnetic Field on Voyager 1 and 2 Observations
- Scatter-free pickup ions beyond the heliopause as a model for the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) ribbon
- Probing Heliospheric Asymmetries with an MHD-kinetic Model
- The Orientation of the Local Interstellar Magnetic Field
- Revisiting Ulysses Observations of Interstellar Helium
- Spatial Confinement of the IBEX Ribbon: A Dominant Turbulence Mechanism
- A Porous, Layered Heliopause
- On the Decades-Long Stability of the Interstellar Wind through the Solar System
- On the Rotation of the Magnetic Field Across the Heliopause
- Why are the magnetic field directions measured by Voyager 1 on both sides of the heliopause so similar?
- Is Voyager 1 Inside an Interstellar Flux Transfer Event?
- The existence and nature of the interstellar bow shock
- Correcting the record on the analysis of IBEX and STEREO data regarding variations in the neutral interstellar wind
- Small-scale local phenomena related to the magnetic reconnection and turbulence in the proximity of the heliopause
- Steady-State Magnetohydrodynamic Flow Around an Unmagnetized Conducting Sphere
- Advective transport of interstellar plasma into the heliosphere across the reconnecting heliopause
Cited by in corpus (7)
- Heliosheath Processes and the Structure of the Heliopause: Modeling Energetic Particles, Cosmic Rays, and Magnetic Fields
- The Twist of the Draped Interstellar Magnetic Field Ahead of the Heliopause: A Magnetic Reconnection Driven Rotational Discontinuity
- Polarised structures in the radio lobes of B2 0258+35 - Evidence of magnetic draping?
- Toward more realistic analytic models of the heliotail: Incorporating magnetic flattening via distortion flows
- An Improved Analytical Model of the Local Interstellar Magnetic Field: The Extension to Compressibility
- An exact analytical solution for the weakly magnetized flow around an axially symmetric paraboloid, with application to magnetosphere models
- An Exact, Time-dependent Analytical Solution for the Magnetic Field in the Inner Heliosheath