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Quasi-periodic transverse plasma flow associated with an evolving MHD vortex street in the outer heliosphereWe study a transverse plasma flow induced by the evolution of a Karman vortex street using a Chebyshev-Fourier spectral algorithm to solve both the compressible Navier-Stokes and MHD equations. The evolving vortex street is formed by the nonlinear interaction of two vortex sheets initially in equilibrium. We study spatial profiles of the total plasma velocity, the density, the meridional flow angle and the location of sector boundaries and find generally good agreement with Voyager 2 measurements of quasi-periodic transverse flow in the outer heliosphere. The pressure pulses associated with the meridional flows in the simulation are too small, although they are correctly located, and this may be due to the lack of any 'warp' in the current sheet in this model. A strong, flow-aligned magnetic field, such as would occur in the inner heliosphere, is shown to lead to weak effects that would be masked by the background interplanetary turbulence. We also study the plasma and magnetic transport resulting from the meridional flow and find that deficits of magnetic quantities do occur near the ecliptic. While the effect is relatively small, it is in general agreement with the most recent analysis of 'flux deficit' in the outer heliosphere.
Document ID
19930071533
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Siregar, Edouard
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Roberts, D. A.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Goldstein, Melvyn L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 98
Issue: A8
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A55530
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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