Waves in the magnetic field and solar wind flow outside the bow shock at comet P/Halley

Abstract

The existence of hydromagnetic waves in the mass-loaded solar wind upstream from the bow shock of a comet is well-established both for comet Giacobini-Zinner and for comet Halley. Whereas previous reports have been concerned either with the magnetic field observations or with plasma observations, here we combine observations of the magnetic field with the solar wind proton and alpha particle distributions. This allows the three possible modes of propagation for these waves to be separated. The magnetic component is predominantly transverse to the magnetic field and linearly polarised. The flow vector also has a substantial amount of power parallel to the magnetic field. A examination of the pressure variations shows that slow magnetosonic waves are more common than the fast mode.