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Current Sheets in the Heliosheath: Voyager 1, 2009We identified all of the current sheets for which we have relatively complete and accurate magnetic field (B) data from Voyager 1 (V1) from days of year (DOYs) 1 to 331, 2009, which were obtained deep in the heliosheath between 108.5 and 111.8 AU. Three types of current sheets were found: (1) 15 proton boundary layers (PBLs), (2) 10 and 3 magnetic holes and magnetic humps, respectively, and (3) 3 sector boundaries. The magnetic field strength changes across PBL, and the profile B(t) is linearly related to the hyperbolic tangent function, but the direction of B does not change. For each of the three sector boundaries, B rotated in a plane normal to the minimum variance direction, and the component of B along the minimum variance direction was zero within the uncertainties, indicating that the sector boundaries were tangential discontinuities. The structure of the sector boundaries was not as simple as that for PBLs. The average thickness of magnetic holes and humps (approx.30 RL) was twice that of the PBLs (approx.15 RL). The average thickness of the current sheets associated with sector boundaries was close to the thickness of the PBLs. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that magnetic holes and humps are solitons, which are initiated by the mirror mode instability, and evolve by nonlinear kinetic plasma processes to pressure balanced structures maintained by magnetization currents and proton drift currents in the gradients of B.
Document ID
20110015336
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Burlaga, L. F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Ness, N. F.
(Catholic Univ. of America Washington, DC, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
May 10, 2011
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 116
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.6874.2012
GSFC.JA.4857.2011
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX09AT41G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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