Statistical properties of the fluxes of energetic ions and solar wind in the region of intersection of shock wave fronts in the distant heliosphere

The character of statistical distributions of the intensity of energetic charged particles, solar wind flux, and the interplanetary magnetic field strength is analyzed using the data obtained by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft in the distant heliosphere. A comparison of the distributions in the region of crossings of shock wave fronts in 1991 and in 2004 is carried out, and their similarities and differences are discussed.     

High-speed streams of the solar wind near the earths’s orbit and their sources on the sun according to stereoscopic observations in the minimum of the 23rd cycle

Based on the results of plasma and magnetic measurements at three different points of the heliosphere and telescopic observations of the Sun from these points we study simultaneously high-speed streams (HSS) of the solar wind (SW) near the Earths’s orbit and coronal holes (CH) that have generated them. The data from spacecraft STEREO-A, STEREO-B, ACE, and SOHO are used together with ground-based observations from March 2007 to May 2008. In this period there existed HSS whose sources represented CH of various polarity, geometry, and location relative to the heliographic and heliomagnetic equators. Dependence of SW parameters on mutual positions of spacecraft with respect to CH and heliospheric current sheet, and also on heliolatitude and geometry of the CH is revealed. A difference of more than 5° in locations of spacecraft with respect to the heliospheric current sheet in November 2007 allowed us to discover a heliolatitude velocity gradient of the SW streams between the STEREO-A and STEREO-B spacecraft. On the average this gradient at that time was equal to 20 km/s per degree. Substantial variations in SW streams associated with variations of the HSS SW sources during a few hours or days were also observed. This variability makes it difficult to use the data of spacecraft STEREO-B for sufficiently accurate prediction of SW properties in the near-Earth space by the method of simple advanced ti me shift due to heliolongitude difference between a spacecraft and the Earth even in solar activity minimum.     

The heliospheric magnetic field and its relation to the temperature,density, and velocity of solar plasma: Experimental evidence

Using daily and hourly data on solar plasma parameters at the Ulysses spacecraft orbit and at 1 AU it is demonstrated that there is a simple relationship between plasma temperature and density with the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF). A mathematical expression connecting HMF with plasma temperature and density is suggested. Correlation coefficients and regression equations for measured and calculated magnetic fields are presented for the 1990–2009 period according to Ulysses spacecraft data and for 2003–2010 at 1 AU (OMNI database). The roles played by density, temperature, and high-speed solar wind streams in forming the magnetic-field peaks are demonstrated using hourly data of OMNI2 and Ulysses.     

The influence of effects of the heliospheric interface on parameters of backscattered solar <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>α radiation measured at the Earth’s orbit

A new kinetic model of distribution of interstellar hydrogen atoms in the heliosphere is suggested in this paper. It takes into account global effects associated with charge exchange of interstellar atoms near the heliospheric boundary. The constructed model allows one to find efficiently the detailed distribution of hydrogen atoms over space and velocities. For the axisymmetric steady-state case a comparison is made of the parameters of interstellar hydrogen atoms that were obtained using the classical hot model, two modifications of the improved hot model, and a global self-consistent kinetic gas-dynamic model of the heliospheric interface. The results of calculations of the spectral moments of scattered solar Lα radiation are presented. They were derived on the basis of different models of distribution of hydrogen atoms in the heliosphere.     

On the relationship between quasi-biennial variations of solar activity,the heliospheric magnetic field and cosmic rays

Quasi-biennial oscillations (QBO) of solar activity (T ≈ 1–4 years) are considered to be a variation of basic solar activity, associated with the solar dynamo process. They are transferred into interplanetary space by the open magnetic flux of the Sun, generating QBO in the intensity of cosmic rays (CR). This paper discusses the observational characteristics of QBO in CR and their relationship with QBO on the Sun and in the interplanetary medium. The delay time of QBO in CR relative to the solar and heliospheric magnetic field suggests that the formation of QBO in the open magnetic flux of the Sun occurs within 3–5 months. The paper considers the question of the prominent periodicity of CR (T = 1.6 years) that has prevailed in CR and in the heliospheric magnetic field for more than 10 years but was not stable over 60 years of observations. Distinctions in the characteristics of QBO and long-term variations of CR suggest features of the mechanism of their formation.     

The Voyager Interstellar Mission

The Voyager Interstellar Mission began on January 1, 1990, with the primary objective being to characterize the interplanetary medium beyond Neptune and to search for the transition region between the interplanetary medium and the interstellar medium. At the start of this mission, the two Voyager spacecraft had already been in flight for over twelve years, having successfully returned a wealth of scientific information about the planetary systems of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and the interplanetary medium between Earth and Neptune. The two spacecraft have the potential to continue returning science data until around the year 2020. With this extended operating lifetime, there is a high likelihood of one of the two spacecraft penetrating the termination shock and possibly the heliopause boundary, and entering interstellar space before that time. This paper describes the Voyager Interstellar Mission--the mission objectives, the spacecraft and science payload, the mission operations system used to support operations, and the mission operations strategy being used to maximize science data return even in the event of certain potential spacecraft subsystem failures. The implementation of automated analysis tools to offset and enable reduced flight team staffing levels is also discussed.     

Invariance of Charged Particle Time Profiles at Late Stages of SCR Events from the Data of Multisatellite Observations

Based on the data obtained in simultaneous measurements on the Helios-1 and Helios-2 spacecraft, the properties of the spatial and temporal invariance of spectra of protons with energies more than 4 MeV and electrons with energies more than 0.3 MeV are studied during the phase of intensity decay in events initiated by the following associations: a flare—coronal mass ejection—coronal and interplanetary shock waves. Emphasis is placed on research into the fluxes of electrons, whose possibility to be accelerated by shock waves is problematic. It is shown that the spectra and decay times of both protons and electrons are approximately invariant relative to the flare coordinates in a wide angular range. Depending on the western or eastern spacecraft position in relation to the front part of a shock wave, one observes a delay or advance of the onset of the invariant mode relative to the shock wave arrival, which increases with the growth of the corresponding angular distance.     

Structure of the earth’s magnetosheath at small fluctuations in the interplanetary magnetic field direction

Spatial structure of the magnetosheath of the Earth was studied under the conditions when no sharp (more than 40° during 5 min) changes in the interplanetary magnetic field direction were observed. On the basis of 24 flights of the Interball-1 satellite through the magnetosheath, it is found that three regions differing from each other by parameters of the field and plasma can be observed in the magnetosheath under the above-indicated conditions. These regions also differ from the solar wind region before front of the Earth’s magnetospheric bow shock. Empirical distributions of parameters were studied in each region. Taking into account the influence of the interplanetary magnetic field direction on the processes in the magnetosheath, the cases of quasi-perpendicular and quasi-parallel shock waves were considered separately. The study showed that the distribution of parameters in the selected regions (in the solar wind before front of the bow shock, in the magnetosheath behind the bow shock (post-shock), in the region of the magnetosheath with minimal fluctuations in the field, and in the inner magnetosheath) differ from each other at any interplanetary magnetic field direction.     

Motion and transport of solar cosmic rays in heliospheric traps: The event on January 28–31, 2001

The results of studying the enhancement of solar cosmic ray fluxes on January 28?C31, 2001 in a wide energy range are presented using the ACE spacecraft data. A comparative analysis of temporal variations of the fluxes of charged particles and of the interplanetary medium parameters (interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind) has been performed on the basis of the ??reflection?? model of motion, accumulation, and modulation of cosmic rays. It is shown that a magnetic trap for solar cosmic rays was created by a plasma stream and flare ejection from an active region in the western part of the solar disk. Particles of low energies (<10 MeV) were captured inside the trap; the dispersion of distribution of particles with different energies inside the trap being determined by its complicated magnetic structure. The power-low dependence of the time of maximum for the flux of particles on their energy is found, and softer energy spectrum inside the trap is explained.     

Large and Fast Variations of Parameters in the Magnetosheath: 3. Amplitudes and Transverse Profiles of Low and High Frequency Variations of the Plasma and Magnetic Field

We present the results of experimental studies of high frequency (with periods of seconds and tens of seconds) and low frequency (with periods of minutes and tens of minutes) large variations of the ion flux and magnetic field magnitude in the magnetosheath. It is shown that, on average, the relative amplitudes of these variations are approximately two times higher than similar values characteristic for the undisturbed solar wind. The averaged spatial profile of these values and their variations across the magnetosheath is obtained, as are the dependencies of normalized plasma fluxes and their variations on the place of entrance of a given plasma element into the magnetosheath. Using one particular example, a good coincidence between the time profiles of ion fluxes measured aboard two spacecraft separated by a distance of 10R _E along the magnetosheath is demonstrated.     

A Magnetospheric Substorm and the Motion of the Magnetopause

Using a single event as an example, we make an analysis of the time development of a substorm and estimate its influence on the motion of the low-latitude boundary of the magnetosphere. To this end, we compare the data on plasma and magnetic field obtained by five spacecraft (WIND, INTERBALL-1, GEOTAIL, GOES-8, and GOES-9) with measurements made by ground-based stations. It is shown that the release of energy of the geomagnetic tail begins from a disruption of the current sheet near the Earth. The high-speed plasma stream that transfers a magnetic flux to the Earth and can have an effect on the magnetic field configuration near the Earth is detected later. Almost simultaneously with a substorm onset a series of magnetopause crossings has been detected by the INTERBALL-1 satellite on the evening side of the low-latitude magnetosphere. In this paper we consider some of possible causes of this motion of the magnetosphere boundary, including variations of parameters of the solar wind, Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and substorm processes. It is shown that fast motions of the magnetopause are detected almost simultaneously with field variations in the near magnetotail of the Earth and geomagnetic pulsations Pi2 on ground-based stations. A sufficiently high degree of correlation (K = 0.67) between the amplitude of Pi2 pulsations and the amplitude of magnetic field variations near the magnetopause is probably indicative of the connection of short-term motions of the magnetosphere boundary with the tail current disruption and the process of formation of a substorm current wedge.__________Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2005, pp. 248–259.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Nikolaeva, Parkhomov, Borodkova, Klimov, Nozdrachev, Romanov, Yermolaev.     

Exploring the solar system galactic frontier in extreme ultraviolet

The solar system galactic frontier—the region where the expanding solar wind meets the surrounding galactic medium—remains poorly explored. The sheer size of the essentially asymmetric heliosphere calls for remote techniques to probe the properties of its global time-varying three-dimensional boundary. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission (launch in 2008) will image the region between the termination shock and the heliopause, the heliospheric sheath, in fluxes of energetic neutral atoms. Global imaging in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) will likely be the next logical step in remote exploration of the galactic frontier from 1 AU. Imaging in EUV will establish directional and spectral properties of (1) the glow of singly charged helium (He⁺) ions in the interstellar and solar wind plasmas; (2) emissions of hot plasma in the Local Bubble; and (3) characteristic emissions of the solar wind. Global imaging with ultrahigh sensitivity and ultrahigh spectral resolution will map the heliopause and reveal the three-dimensional flow pattern of the solar wind, including the flow over the Sun's poles. This article presents the emerging concept of the experiment and space mission for heliosphere global imaging in EUV.     

MHD Simulations of the Dynamics of Sharp Disturbances of the Interplanetary Medium and Comparison with Spacecraft Observations

One-dimensional MHD simulations of solitary sharp and strong disturbances (impulses) of the interplanetary magnetic field and plasma of the homogeneous solar wind were performed. The characteristics of a disturbance of this type, recorded onboard the WIND spacecraft (SC) rather far from the Earth, were taken as initial conditions. The results of numerical experiments simulating the evolution of this disturbance in the moving interplanetary plasma, whose parameters correspond to observations of the WIND and INTERBALL-1 SC, show the efficiency of the computer code developed with the special purpose of investigating low-frequency wave events in the space environment. The calculated characteristics of the impulse resulting from the evolution are in good agreement with parameters of the disturbance recorded by the INTERBALL-1 SC closer to the Earth. In particular, the impulse expands due to imbalance of thermal and magnetic pressures, but keeps its abrupt boundaries. It was demonstrated that stable plasma objects, corresponding to stationary MHD solutions, could really exist in the solar wind plasma for a long time.     

An explanation of variable peculiarities in spectra of electrons and positrons of cosmic rays

It is shown that the excesses in the sum of fluxes (e ⁺ + e ^?) in cosmic rays in the energy range (10–1000) GeV and in the flux ratio e ⁺/(e ⁺ + e ^?) in the range > 10 GeV, observed both in recent and old experiments, can be explained by an accelerator of charged particles operating on the heliosphere periphery, in the region beyond the termination shock of the solar wind (～100 AU). Variations in the value and position of peculiarities in the spectra (e ⁺ + e ^?), as well as increasing ratio of fluxes e ⁺/(e ⁺ + e ^?), can be associated with variations of solar activity (and, as a consequence, of acceleration regimes) on different phases of the 11-years solar cycle. The results of numerical simulation of capture and acceleration of charged particles by packets of plasma waves in the heliospheric magnetic field are presented.     

Excitation of Pc5 pulsations of the geomagnetic field and riometric absorption

We consider in detail the intense Pc5 pulsations of the magnetic field, riometric absorption, and electron fluxes occurred on the recovery phase of the strong magnetic storm on November 21, 2003. The global structure of these disturbances is studied using the world network of magnetometers and riometers supplemented by the data of particle detectors onboard the LANL geosynchronous satellites. The local spatial structure is investigated according to data of the regional network of Finnish vertical riometers and of stations of the IMAGE magnetic network. Though a certain similarity is observed in the frequency composition and time evolution of the variations of magnetic field and riometric absorption, the local spatial structure of these oscillations turns out to be different. It is suggested that these variations can be manifestations of oscillatory properties of two weakly connected systems: the magnetospheric MHD waveguide/resonator and the system cyclotron noise + electrons. The recorded Pc5 oscillations are, presumably, a result of excitation of the magnetospheric waveguide on the morning and evening flanks of the magnetosphere. At high velocities of the solar wind this waveguide can appear in a metastable state. Not only jumps in the solar wind density, but injection of electrons into the magnetosphere as well, can serve as a trigger for the waveguide excitation.     

Large and sharp changes of solar wind dynamic pressure and disturbances of the magnetospheric magnetic field at geosynchronous orbit caused by these variations

The large and sharp changes of solar wind dynamic pressure, found from the INTERBALL-1 satellite and WIND spacecraft data, are compared with simultaneous magnetic field disturbances in the magnetosphere measured by geosynchronous GOES-8, GOES-9, and GOES-10 satellites. For this purpose, about 200 events in the solar wind, associated with sharp changes of the dynamic pressure, were selected from the INTERBALL-1 satellite data obtained during 1996–1999. The large and sharp changes of the solar wind dynamic pressure were shown to result in rapid variations of the magnetic field strength in the outer magnetosphere, the increase (drop) of the solar wind dynamic pressure always lead to an increase (drop) of the geosynchronous magnetic field magnitude. The value of the geomagnetic field variation strongly depends on the local time of the observation point, reaching a maximum value near the noon meridian. It is shown that the direction of the B _z component of the interplanetary magnetic field has virtually no effect on the geomagnetic field variation because of a sharp jump of pressure. The time shift between an event in the solar wind and its response in the magnetosphere at a geosynchronous orbit essentially depends on the inclination of the front of a solar wind disturbance to the Sun-Earth line.     

Orientation of Middle-Scale Structures in the Solar Wind Plasma

An estimation of the value and orientation of the inclination of middle-scale structures in the solar wind plasma is obtained on the basis of time lags of simultaneous correlated measurements on three spacecraft: INTERBALL-1, IMP-8, and WIND. It is shown that middle-scale plasma structures, in the majority of cases, are not perpendicular to the Sun–Earth line, but inclined to it (presumably, in the ecliptic plane), on average, at an angle of approximately 63° (or 27° to the Y _SE axis). However, this inclination is significantly less than the inclination of the Parker spiral for the interplanetary magnetic field (45° at the Earth's orbit).     

Calculation of the Initial Magnetic Field for Mercury’s Magnetosphere Hybrid Model

Several types of numerical models are used to analyze the interactions of the solar wind flow with Mercury’s magnetosphere, including kinetic models that determine magnetic and electric fields based on the spatial distribution of charges and currents, magnetohydrodynamic models that describe plasma as a conductive liquid, and hybrid models that describe ions kinetically in collisionless mode and represent electrons as a massless neutralizing liquid. The structure of resulting solutions is determined not only by the chosen set of equations that govern the behavior of plasma, but also by the initial and boundary conditions; i.e., their effects are not limited to the amount of computational work required to achieve a quasi-stationary solution. In this work, we have proposed using the magnetic field computed by the paraboloid model of Mercury’s magnetosphere as the initial condition for subsequent hybrid modeling. The results of the model have been compared to measurements performed by the Messenger spacecraft during a single crossing of the magnetosheath and the magnetosphere. The selected orbit lies in the terminator plane, which allows us to observe two crossings of the bow shock and the magnetopause. In our calculations, we have defined the initial parameters of the global magnetospheric current systems in a way that allows us to minimize paraboloid magnetic field deviation along the trajectory of the Messenger from the experimental data. We have shown that the optimal initial field parameters include setting the penetration of a partial interplanetary magnetic field into the magnetosphere with a penetration coefficient of 0.2.     

Galactic cosmic rays and parameters of the interplanetary medium near solar activity minima

The time behavior of intensity of cosmic rays with relatively low (~1–6 GeV) and high (>10 GeV) energies are considered together with characteristics influencing the modulation of cosmic rays in the heliosphere. The periods under study are close to solar activity minima in cycles 21/22, 22/23, and 23/24. Diffusion and convection in small-scale magnetic fields of the heliosphere are demonstrated to play some role only at sufficiently weak disturbances of the field (B/δB > 1.3). In this case, a negative correlation is observed between B/δB and a tilt of the surface of the heliospheric current sheet. The analysis of characteristics of the interplanetary medium in periods of solar activity minima shows that the energy anomaly of cosmic rays in the minimum of cycles 23/24 is caused by deficit of high energy particles rather than by an excess of particles of relatively small energies.