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Published March 2009 | public
Journal Article

The dynamic heliosphere: outstanding issues

Abstract

Properties of the heliospheric interface, a complex product of an interaction between charged and neutral particles and magnetic fields in the heliosphere and surrounding Circumheliospheric Medium, are far from being fully understood. Recent Voyager spacecraft encounters with the termination shock and their observations in the heliosheath revealed multiple energetic particle populations and noticeable spatial asymmetries not accounted for by the classic theories. Some of the challenges still facing space physicists include the origin of anomalous cosmic rays, particle acceleration downstream of the termination shock, the role of interstellar magnetic fields in producing the global asymmetry of the interface, the influence of charge exchange and interstellar neutral atoms on heliospheric plasma flows, and the signatures of solar magnetic cycle in the heliosheath. These and other outstanding issues are reviewed in this joint report of working groups 4 and 6.

Additional Information

© 2009 Springer. Received: 2 October 2008; accepted: 10 January 2009; published online: 30 January 2009. V.F. was supported by NASA grants NNG05GD45G, NNG06GD43G, and NNG06GD48G. J.R.J. received support from NSF grant ATM0447354 and NASA grants NNG05GE83G and NNX07AH19G. D.J.M. was supported by NASA as a part of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission. N.V.P.'s work was supported by NASA grants NNG06GD48G, NNG06GD43G, and NNX08AJ21G. Supercomputer time allocations were provided by DOE's INCITE project PSS001, NSF Teragrid project MCA07S033 and NASA High-End Computing program award SMD-08-0763. J.D.R. was supported under NASA contract 959203 and NASA grants NAG5-8947 and NNX08AC04G. E.C.S. was supported by NASA contract NAS7-03001. B.E.W. acknowledges support from NASA grant NNG05GD69G to U of Colorado.

Additional details

Created:
August 21, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023