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The heliospheric magnetic field and the solar wind during the solar cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

Lennard A. Fisk
Affiliation:
Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA email: lafisk@umich.edu
Liang Zhao
Affiliation:
Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA email: lafisk@umich.edu
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Abstract

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The heliospheric magnetic field and the solar wind are behaving differently in the current solar minimum, compared to the previous minimum. The radial component of the heliospheric magnetic field, and thus the average value of the component of the solar magnetic field that opens into the heliosphere, the so-called open magnetic flux of the Sun, is lower than it was in the previous solar minimum; in fact, lower than in any previous solar minimum for which there are good spacecraft observations. The mass flux, the ram pressure, and the coronal electron temperature as measured by solar wind charge states are also lower in the current minimum compared to the previous one. This situation provides an opportunity to test some of the concepts for the behavior of the heliospheric magnetic field and the solar wind that have been developed; to improve these theories, and to construct a theory for the solar wind that accounts for the observed behavior throughout the solar cycle, including the current unusual solar minimum.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2009

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