Open AccessModeling the heliospheric current sheet: Solar cycle variations
Author(s) -
Riley Pete,
Linker J. A.,
Mikić Z.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2001ja000299
Subject(s) - heliosphere , heliospheric current sheet , physics , current sheet , solar wind , solar rotation , solar minimum , interplanetary magnetic field , solar cycle , solar maximum , coronal mass ejection , solar cycle 23 , magnetohydrodynamics , astrophysics , solar physics , computational physics , astronomy , magnetic field , quantum mechanics
In this report we employ an empirically driven, three‐dimensional MHD model to explore the evolution of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) during the course of the solar cycle. We compare our results with a simpler “constant‐speed” approach for mapping the HCS outward into the solar wind to demonstrate that dynamic effects can substantially deform the HCS in the inner heliosphere (≲5 AU). We find that these deformations are most pronounced at solar minimum and become less significant at solar maximum, when interaction regions are less effective. Although solar maximum is typically associated with transient, rather than corotating, processes, we show that even under such conditions, the HCS can maintain its structure over the course of several solar rotations. While the HCS may almost always be topologically equivalent to a “ballerina skirt,” we discuss an interval approaching the maximum of solar cycle 23 (Carrington rotations 1960 and 1961) when the shape would be better described as “conch shell”‐like. We use Ulysses magnetic field measurements to support the model results.