HR: 1340h
AN: SH43A-1095    [Abstracts]
TI: Variability of interstellar medium: Impact on heliospheric structure
AU: * Mueller, H R
EM: hans.mueller@dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AU: * Mueller, H R
EM: hans.mueller@dartmouth.edu
AF: University of California, Riverside, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics IGPP, Riverside, CA 92521 United States
AU: Frisch, P C
EM: frisch@oddjob.uchicago.edu
AF: University of Chicago, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chicago, IL 60637 United States
AU: Florinski, V
EM: vflorins@ucr.edu
AF: University of California, Riverside, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics IGPP, Riverside, CA 92521 United States
AU: Zank, G P
EM: gary.zank@ucr.edu
AF: University of California, Riverside, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics IGPP, Riverside, CA 92521 United States
AB: Interstellar cloud types within several hundred pc of the Sun vary in their density, temperature, degree of ionization, and galactic velocity. This suggests that during its lifetime, the heliosphere has been exposed to a variety of different interstellar environments. In particular, the Sun was once located in the hot, ionized, low-density plasma interior of the Local Bubble, and may occasionally be battered by high-velocity interstellar shock fronts. By means of numerical modeling, the interaction of the solar wind (assumed constant) with a variety of partially ionized interstellar media is investigated. A range of ISM densities, relative velocities, and temperatures is considered, including the three cases of the interior of the Local Bubble; an encounter with a high-density cloud; and immersion in a high velocity medium. The resulting changed heliospheric structures are discussed, as are the altered distributions of neutral atoms and galactic cosmic ray spectra.
DE: 7837 Neutral particles
DE: 7843 Numerical simulation studies
DE: 2124 Heliopause and solar wind termination
DE: 2144 Interstellar gas
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting