A Fluid Model for the Interaction of the Solar Wind and the Geomagnetic Field

Abstract

Data obtained in space, particularly that from IMP-1, have established that many of the gross features of the interaction of the solar wind and the geomagnetic field can be described by the continuum theory of fluid flow. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to indicate briefly how one can arrive at results for the magnetosphere boundary, the bow wave, and the associated flow field from a purely fluid point of view without resort to a mixture of particle and fluid models as usually employed and (b) to present numerical results for the flow parameters in the shock layer between the bow wave and the magnetosphere boundary. The objective is not to get a complicated theory that encompasses all phenomena of importance, but rather the simplest body of analysis that appears able to describe the average bulk properties of the solar wind as it flows steadily through the bow wave and around the forward portion of the magnetosphere. A more complete account of this study is given by Spreiter etal. (1966).