New unexpected flow patterns in the problem of the stellar wind interaction with the interstellar medium: stationary ideal-MHD solutions

TL;DR

This paper uses 3D MHD simulations to reveal new flow patterns in stellar wind interactions, showing how the shape of the astropause varies with interstellar Mach number and discovering reverse flows near the tail.

Contribution

The study introduces novel 3D MHD models demonstrating how the astropause shape transitions from tube-like to sheet-like and uncovers reverse interstellar flows near the astropause tail.

Findings

Astropause shape depends on interstellar Mach number.

Reverse interstellar flow occurs near the tail.

Transition from tube-like to sheet-like topology.

Abstract

The astropause (heliopause for the Sun) is the tangential discontinuity separating the stellar wind from the interstellar plasma. The global shape of the heliopause is a matter of debates. Two types of the shape are under discussion: comet-like and tube-like. In the second type the two-jets oriented toward the stellar rotation axis are formed by the action of azimuthal component of the stellar magnetic field. We explore a simplified global astrosphere in which: (1) the surrounding and moving with respect to the star circumstellar medium is fully ionized, (2) the interstellar magnetic field is neglected, (3) the radial component of the stellar magnetic field is neglected as compared with the azimuthal component, (4) the stellar wind outflow is spherically symmetric and supersonic. We present the results of numerical 3D MHD modelling and explore how the global structure depends on the gas-dynamic Mach number of the interstellar flow, $M_\infty$, and the Alfvenic Mach number in the stellar wind. It is shown that the astropause has a tube-like shape for small values of $M_\infty$. The wings of the tube are distorted toward the tail as larger as larger the Mach number is. The new (to our knowledge) result is the reverse interstellar flow in the vicinity of the astropause in the tail. The larger the interstellar Mach number is the narrower the reverse flow is. At some values of the Mach number the stellar wind overcomes the reverse interstellar flow and moves out in downwind. In this regime the astropause changes its topology from tube-like to sheet-like.