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Energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) from the heliosphere are a unique means to remotely image the boundary regions of our heliosphere. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has been very successful in measuring these ENAs since 2008 at energies from tens of eV to 6 keV. The main question raised by one solar cycle of IBEX-Lo observations at 0.05–2 keV is the strong and ubiquitous underestimation of several model predictions compared with actually measured ENA intensities at energies between 100 and 500 eV. This study converts the observed ENA intensities into plasma pressures for different sky directions and considers the implications for our understanding of the heliosheath and the source of the observed ENAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have examined Ulysses magnetic field measurements for the years 1993 through 1996 as the spacecraft moved sunward from 5 au at high southern latitudes, passing through perihelion during the first fast-latitude scan to achieve high northern latitudes, and finally returning to 5 au. These years represent near-solar-minimum activity, providing a clear measure of high-latitude solar-wind turbulence. We apply a series of tests to the data, examining both the magnetic variance anisotropy and the underlying wavevector anisotropy, finding them to be consistent with past 1 au observations. The variance anisotropy depends upon both the thermal proton temperature parameter and the amplitude of the magnetic power spectrum, while the underlying wavevector anisotropy is dominated by the component perpendicular to the mean magnetic field. We also examine the amplitude of the magnetic power spectrum as well as the associated turbulent transport of energy to small scales that results in the heating of the thermal plasma. The measured turbulence is found to be stronger than that seen at low latitudes by the Voyager spacecraft as it traverses the distance from 1 to 5 au during the years approaching solar maximum. If the high- and low-latitude sources are comparable, this would indicate that while the heating processes are active in both regions, the turbulence has had less decay time in the transport of energy to small scales. Alternatively, it may also be that the high-latitude source is stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We adopt the theory for turbulent transport of energy by solar wind fluctuations and apply that theory to observations by the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft to obtain rates of thermal proton heating that are controlled by two sources: the large-scale fluctuations in the solar wind that arise from solar sources and the excitation of waves by newborn interstellar ions. In the process, we compute magnetic spectra for 839 data intervals spanning the range from 1 to 35 au when thermal ion data is available and use those spectra to obtain independent estimates for the energy cascade rates at intermediate scales that we assume equals the rate of thermal proton heating by the turbulence. We compare three analyses that describe different aspects of the solar wind heating problem: the rate of energy cascade through the intermediate scales of the magnetic spectrum, the rate at which energy is supplied to that cascade from the large-scale fluctuations as described by magnetohydrodynamic transport theory, and the rate at which energy is injected into the spectrum via wave excitation by newborn interstellar ions. The first two expressions are found to be in good agreement while the latter source dynamics become important beyond 10 au. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine both Voyager and Advanced Composition Explorer magnetic field measurements at frequencies that characterize the inertial range and evaluate the anisotropy of the fluctuations as they relate to both the compressive component and underlying wavevector anisotropy of the turbulence. The magnetic fluctuation anisotropy as it relates to the compressive component is directly dependent upon both the plasma beta of the thermal proton component and the ratio of magnetic fluctuation magnitude to the strength of the mean magnetic field. This has been seen before at 1 au. The magnetic fluctuation anisotropy in the plane perpendicular to the mean magnetic field, which is a measure of the anisotropy of the underlying wavevector distribution, should depend on the angle between the mean magnetic field and the radial direction and should be confined to values between one and the index of the power spectrum, which is typically 5/3. Our results show that the average of this anisotropy exceeds the value of the spectral index and is out of bounds with the theory. Although the results are suggestive of past analyses, we find that spherical expansion of the turbulence may offer at least a partial explanation of the apparent amplification of this measured anisotropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine both Voyager and Advanced Composition Explorer magnetic field measurements at frequencies that characterize the inertial range using traditional polarization techniques that are designed to characterize plasma waves. Although we find good agreement with both the anticipated spectral index of the power spectrum and the scaling of magnetic power with heliocentric distance, we do not find that the polarization analyses yield results that can be readily described by plasma wave theory. The fluctuations are not circularly polarized and there is a markedly reduced coherence between the components of the fluctuation. The degree of polarization is also generally low, although not as low as the coherence, and the minimum variance direction is essentially random. We conclude that traditional plasma wave theory may not offer a good description for inertial-range fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a published effort to study low-frequency magnetic waves excited by newborn interstellar pickup ions seen by the Voyager spacecraft, we developed a set of control intervals that represent the background turbulence when the observations are not dominated by wave excitation. This paper begins an effort to better understand solar wind turbulence from 1 to 45 au while spanning greater than one solar cycle. We first focus on the diagnostics marking the onset of dissipation. This includes an expected break in the power spectrum at frequencies greater than the proton cyclotron frequency and a resultant steepening of the spectrum at higher frequencies. Contrary to what is established at 1 au, we only see the spectral break in rare instances. The expected scaling of the spectral index with the turbulence rate is seen, but it is not as clearly established as it was at 1 au. We also find that both Voyager data from 1 to 45 au and Advanced Composition Explorer data from 1 au show significant bias of the magnetic helicity at dissipation scales when the dissipation-range power-law spectral index steepens. We conclude that dissipation dynamics are similar throughout the heliosphere in so far as we have examined to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has recently opened a new window on the interstellar medium (ISM) by imaging neutral atoms. One "bright" feature in the sky is the interstellar wind flowing into the solar system. Composed of remnants of stellar explosions as well as primordial gas and plasma, the ISM is by no means uniform. The interaction of the local ISM with the solar wind shapes our heliospheric environment with hydrogen being the dominant component of the very local ISM. In this paper, we report on direct sampling of the neutral hydrogen of the local ISM over four years of IBEX observations. The hydrogen wind observed at 1 AU has decreased and nearly disappeared as the solar activity has increased over the last four years; the signal at 1 AU has dropped off in 2012 by a factor of~8 to near background levels. The longitudinal offset has also increased with time presumably due to greater radiation pressure deflecting the interstellar wind.We present longitudinal and latitudinal arrival direction measurements of the bulk flow as measured over four years beginning at near solar minimum conditions. The H distribution we observe at 1 AU is expected to be different from that outside the heliopause due to ionization, photon pressure, gravity, and filtration by interactions with heliospheric plasma populations. These observations provide an important benchmark for modeling of the global heliospheric interaction. Based on these observations we suggest a further course of scientific action to observe neutral hydrogen over a full solar cycle with IBEX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]