Interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.
Abstract
The basic dynamical interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium involves the relaxation toward pressure equilibrium between the solar and interstellar magnetized plasmas. This interaction leads to the formation of a cavity in the interstellar medium carved out by the solar plasma, which we refer to as the heliosphere. It is not difficult to determine what heliospheric and interstellar parameters are likely to be important in the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium, and the author provides an overview of the observationally inferred values of these parameters, including the uncertainties in the inferences. Then, he examines from a theoretical point of view the basic physical processes that are likely to be important in this interaction, and he concludes by combining this theoretical information with the observational information in an effort to develop the currently most likely overall picture of the heliosphere that is shaped by the local interstellar medium.
- Publication:
-
Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1146/annurev.aa.27.090189.001215
- Bibcode:
- 1989ARA&A..27..199H
- Keywords:
-
- Interstellar Gas;
- Plasma Interactions;
- Solar Wind;
- Cosmic Dust;
- Cosmic Rays;
- Heliosphere;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Flow;
- Plasma Dynamics;
- Astrophysics;
- Interstellar Matter: Solar Wind;
- Heliosphere: Solar Wind