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Interstellar Turbulence and the Plasma Environment of the Heliosphere

Interstellar Turbulence and the Plasma Environment of the Heliosphere. Steven R. Spangler University of Iowa. The sky as imaged by the Wisconsin H Alpha Mapper (WHAM; Haffner et al 2003, ApJS 149, 405). The Warm Ionized Medium (WIM): where do stellar structures end and turbulence begin?.

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Interstellar Turbulence and the Plasma Environment of the Heliosphere

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  1. Interstellar Turbulence and the Plasma Environment of the Heliosphere Steven R. Spangler University of Iowa

  2. The sky as imaged by the Wisconsin H Alpha Mapper (WHAM; Haffner et al 2003, ApJS 149, 405) The Warm Ionized Medium (WIM): where do stellar structures end and turbulence begin?

  3. The Warm Ionized Medium (WIM) of the Interstellar Medium • Density= 0.08 cc • B field = 3-4 microG • T=8000k • VA=23.3 km/sec • Hydrogen ionization: >90 % • Helium ionization: 50%-100% neutral See Haffner et al 2009, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 969 for full description

  4. Philosophical statement on turbulence: the solar wind should serve as a model of turbulence everywhere

  5. Power spectra of magnetic field and velocity in the solar wind Podesta and Borovsky 2010, Phys. Plasm. 17, 112905 Outer scale

  6. What are the recent developments in studies of interstellar turbulence? • Evidence for a relatively small outer scale ( ~ 5 parsecs) for WIM turbulence • Claims that in the solar wind the power spectra of magnetic and velocity fluctuations differ (3/2 vs. 5/3)(Obs: J. Podesta and colleagues; Theory: S. Boldyrev and colleagues) • Progress in understanding the dissipation mechanisms of solar wind turbulence, and by extension, all astrophysical turbulence (G. Howes and colleagues)

  7. Faraday Rotation in the corona and elsewhere Rotation measure

  8. Cosmic magnetic fields here means the solar corona as well as that of the ISM and elsewhere

  9. Faraday Rotation as a turbulence diagnostic A difference in Rotation Measure between two closely-spaced lines of sight

  10. Faraday rotation as a probe of interstellar plasma turbulence “suitable for observers” The rotation measure structure function Minter and Spangler 1996, ApJ 458, 194

  11. The rotation measure structure function and the properties of interstellar turbulence “It showed our intentions were serious…”

  12. The observed rotation measure structure function 2/3 5/3 Minter and Spangler 1996, ApJ 458, 194 Outer scale = 3.6 parsecs

  13. Recent studies have obtained rotation measure structure functions from large parts of the sky. They are always flatter than 5/3 Haverkorn et al ApJ 680, 362, 2008 Oppermann et al A&A, in press The “flatness” of rotation measure structure functions is an important diagnostic of interstellar turbulence

  14. What about the plasma environment of the Heliosphere? Plasma of the Local Clouds similar (in many respects) to the WIM

  15. How do we infer the presence of turbulence in the Very Local Interstellar Medium? (Redfield and Linsky, ApJ613, 1004, 2004)

  16. Spectra can measure central velocity, column density, and line width of each line isolated

  17. Physical properties of small clouds • Ion density about 0.1/cc • Neutral fraction about 50% • Temperatures ~ 6700K • Clouds seem to be flowing from direction of Scorpius-Centaurus Association

  18. Inferring cloud turbulence properties from high-resolution spectroscopy Line width Velocity centroid

  19. Line width due to Doppler motion of atoms or ions (thermal + turbulent) With measurements of several atoms or ions (different m), can solve for T and \xi Note: both T and \xi are line-of-sight values (Doppler effect)

  20. Capella

  21. Measurement of several lines leads to rms turbulent velocity Redfield and Linsky 2004, ApJ 613, 1004

  22. Is the outer scale in the VLISM also small? • Apparently not (?) Frisch et al (2010, ApJ 724, 1473) report relatively uniform B field over spatial extent of ~80 parsecs • Direction of uniform field agrees with axis of IBEX “ribbon”, and heliospheric models • Could still have turbulence with outer scale of 3-4 parsecs if amplitude is small. • But, direction of Frisch et al (2010) field is at large angle with respect to galactic plane, like turbulent fluctuation.

  23. Are VLISM observations consistent with MHD turbulence possessing a pronounced “residual energy spectrum”? Assume b and v spectra with residual energy spectrum Assume at inner scale, fluctuations are Alfvenic Then on large scales, fluctuations given by

  24. VLISM turbulence and residual energy spectrum We know these parameters Spangler, Savage, Redfield (ApJ 742, 30, 2011) Would seem difficult to reconcile with uniform B over 80 parsecs

  25. A new age of opportunity for cosmic Faraday rotation measurements; the availability of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array • Lower noise receivers • Larger bandwidth • Continuous frequency coverage Thanks

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