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Interplanetary sector structure and the helliomagnetic equator

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Abstract

The magnetohydrodynamics of solar-wind flow lead logically to the formation of one warped annular neutral surface that apparently extends from ≈ 2r (solar radii) to the boundary of the heliosphere. The most likely asymptotic configuration for this neutral sheet intersects the heliomagnetic equatorial plane along four corotating arcs. The observer sees a reversal of magnetic polarity on each crossing of the neutral surface, and so interprets each reversal as the crossing of a sector boundary.

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Schulz, M. Interplanetary sector structure and the helliomagnetic equator. Astrophys Space Sci 24, 371–383 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02637162

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02637162

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