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Abstracted/indexed
Regular paper
12 Jan 2018
Uncertainties in the heliosheath ion temperatures
Klaus Scherer1,2, Hans Jörg Fahr3, Horst Fichtner1,2, Adama Sylla1, John D. Richardson4, and Marian Lazar1 1Institut für Theoretische Physik IV: Weltraum- und Astrophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
2Research Department, Plasmas with Complex Interactions, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany
3Argelander Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, Germany
4Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Abstract. The Voyager plasma observations show that the physics of the heliosheath is rather complex and that the temperature derived from observation particularly differs from expectations. To explain this fact, the temperature in the heliosheath should be based on κ distributions instead of Maxwellians because the former allows for much higher temperature. Here we show an easy way to calculate the κ temperatures when those estimated from the data are given as Maxwellian temperatures. We use the moments of the Maxwellian and κ distributions to estimate the κ temperature. Moreover, we show that the pressure (temperature) given by a truncated κ distribution is similar to that given by a Maxwellian and only starts to increase for higher truncation velocities. We deduce a simple formula to convert the Maxwellian to κ pressure or temperature. We apply this result to the Voyager 2 observations in the heliosheath.

Citation: Scherer, K., Fahr, H. J., Fichtner, H., Sylla, A., Richardson, J. D., and Lazar, M.: Uncertainties in the heliosheath ion temperatures, Ann. Geophys., 36, 37-46, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-37-2018, 2018.
Short summary
The Voyager plasma observations show that the physics of the heliosheath is rather complex and that temperature derived from observation particularly differs from expectations. To explain this fact, the temperature in the heliosheath should be based on κ distributions instead of Maxwellians because the former allows for much higher temperature. Here we show an easy way to calculate the κ temperatures.
The Voyager plasma observations show that the physics of the heliosheath is rather complex and...
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