The polar heliospheric magnetic field

Abstract

We describe the large‐scale magnetic field morphology in the heliosheath. A simple argument, which depends only on the interstellar wind flowing nearly in the solar equatorial plane, shows that polar heliospheric magnetic fieldlines never approach the heliopause and therefore are accessible to galactic cosmic rays only through perpendicular diffusion. The same argument implies reconnection, at fine scales (ca. 0.2 AU), on the nose of the heliopause, between the interplanetary magnetic field and the magnetic field in the local interstellar medium (LISM). Galactic cosmic rays therefore have direct access across the heliopause to fieldlines connected to equatorial regions of the inner solar system.