Limits on the interstellar magnetic field imposed by observational constraints indicate that Voyager 1 remains in the inner heliosheath

[摘要] The unmeasured interstellar magnetic field strength is an essential parameter for models of the heliosphere moving relative to the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) that surrounds it. Here we use recent measurements of the differential energy spectra of energetic neutral hydrogen (ENH) combined with Voyager 1 (V1) measurements of energetic particles to calculate the total pressure and its 1-0 limit in the inner heliosheath, the region between the termination shock at ∼90 AU and the heliopause that V1 presumably crossed at 122 AU. Balancing pressure across the heliopause, we find the magnetic pressure in the outer heliosheath at ∼ 135 AU where V1 is currently located. From this magnetic pressure we find an extraordinarily large magnetic field strength of 0.84 ± 0.08 nT compared to the 0.464 ± 0.009 nT field strength currently measured by V1. We conclude that V1 is currently not measuring the interstellar field, but rather the solar magnetic field. Voyager 1 is thus not in interstellar space but still inside a new, unanticipated, and most unusual region of heliosphere that it entered in late August 2012. We recalculate total pressures in the ordinary heliosheath (∼90 - 122 AU), in the new, co-called cold inner heliosheath (122 - 145 AU), in the outer heliosheath and in the unperturbed LIC. Pressure balance again requires that all these pressures must be equal. Constrained by the requirement of pressure equality between all regions and minimum reduced χ2fits to the ENH spectrum and the differential intensities of particles measured by V1 in the ordinary, co-called hot heliosheath, we find the common pressure to be (3.45 ± 0.39)x10-12dyne-cm-2. The magnetic field strength in the outer heliosheath is calculated to be 0.90 ± 0.089 nT, and in the unperturbed LIC it is 0.86 ± 0.11 nT. To achieve common pressure for all regions imposes firm limits on the LIC neutral hydrogen density, n(HI) = 0.10 ± 0.02 cm-3. Pressure balance between the LIC and the hot cloud surrounding it places firm limit on the proton density in the unperturbed LIC, n(HIl) = 0.036 ± 0.012 cm-3.

[发布机构] Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward st, Ann Arbor; MI; 48109-2143, United States^1

[效力级别] 天文学 [学科分类] 天文学(综合)

[关键词] Differential energy spectra;Energetic particles;Interstellar magnetic fields;Interstellar space;Local interstellar clouds;Magnetic field strengths;Neutral hydrogen densities;Solar magnetic fields