1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
3-D cycle variation of the outer-heliospheric plasma associated with the solar activity
| Project/Area Number |
06640569
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Space and upper atmospheric physics
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| Research Institution | Shonan Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
WASHIMI Haruichi Shonan Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (60023686)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1994 – 1995
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| Keywords | solar wind / MHD / simulation / solar plasma / heliosphere / solar activity |
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| Research Abstract |
I have performed a global three-dimensional MHD computer simulation of the outer heliosphere under the interaction of the solar wind plasma with the interstellar medium, and shown that MHD processes are essentially important in analysing a 3-D global heliospheric structure.
The main results are as follows.
1.The termination shock with the Mach disk, the heliopause and the outer shock are clearly determined in our simulation.
2.The magnetic field increases rapidly in the upstream region of the heliosheath and becomes maximum in the heliosheath. Hence a magnetic wall is found to be formed in the heliosheath.
3.Two kinds of global poloidal current loops, which sustain the toroidal magnetic field, are found in 3-D heliosphere.
4.The influence of the 11-year solar cycle variation of the magnetic polarity has been examined. It is found that the polarity of the toroidal magnetic field in the heliosheath switches at every solar cycle change. Hence the heliosheath is found to consist of such magnetized plasma bubbles. The neutral sheets are found to extend between such magnetized plasma bubbles in the 3-D heliosheath in a complicated form.
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