EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR)
Development and Maintenance by the EarthRef.org Database Team

Detailed Reference Information
Wang et al. 2000
Wang, C., Richardson, J.D. and Gosling, J.T. (2000). Slowdown of the Solar Wind in the Outer Heliosphere and the Interstellar Neutral Hydrogen Density. Geophysical Research Letters 27: doi: 10.1029/2000GL000058. issn: 0094-8276.

Voyager 2 and Ulysses were at nearly the same latitude in the southern heliosphere at the beginning of 1999 and their radial separation was about 55 AU. The effect of pickup ions should be profound at Voyager's position, especially, the deceleration of the solar wind flow. This unique opportunity allows us to investigate the effect of pickup ions based on direct multi-spacecraft observations. The Ulysses observations were used as input into a 1-dimensional MHD numerical model. We run cases with and without pickup ions in an attempt to estimate the slowdown of the solar wind and the interstellar neutral hydrogen density. The theoretical predictions at the location of Voyager 2 were compared with the observations. For the purpose of this study, we focus on the statistical characteristics rather than detailed structures of the solar wind in the outer heliosphere. We found a decrease of ~40 km s-1 or ~10% in the radial velocity near 60 AU. This speed decrease implies an interstellar neutral density of 0.05 cm-3. ¿ 2000 American Geophysical Union

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Interplanetary Physics, Neutral particles, Interplanetary Physics, Pickup ions, Interplanetary Physics, Solar wind plasma
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-1277
USA
1-202-462-6900
1-202-328-0566
service@agu.org
Click to clear formClick to return to previous pageClick to submit