Magnetic structures in the heliosheath

Small scale magnetic structures observed in the solar wind and more recently by Voyager 1 in the heliosheath often exhibit a solitary wave-like structure. As described by Burlaga et al. [2006], the Voyager 1 data has revealed the presence of a rich class of stationary and stable magnetic structures such as magnetic holes, sinusoids etc. The data also shows the presence of magnetic `humps' with magnetic field maxima in the centre, trains of several holes and humps, and a sequence of merged holes and humps [Burlaga et al., 2006b]. We have developed a model based on the recent, fully nonlinear theory of solitary waves by McKenzie et al.[2001, 2004]. Our solutions i.e., magnetic holes, humps, trains of holes and humps etc are strongly nonlinear (70 to 80 % change in the magnetic field at the centre) and propagate at large angles (> ) to the mean magnetic field. The structures are almost pressure balanced with an anti correlation between the magnetic field and the plasma density, with no change in the magnetic vector across the structure. These features are consistent with the observations of magnetic structures in the solar wind and the heliosheath.