The effect of magnetic fields on the macroscopic instability of the heliopause. 1. Parallel interstellar magnetic fields

Abstract

Several solutions for stationary models for the plasma flow configuration in the interface region between the unperturbed flows of the interstellar plasma and the supersonic solar wind plasma have been discussed in the literature. The magnetohydrodynamic form of an interaction of these counterstreaming flows establishes a free pressure equilibrium surface, called the heliopause, with a frontal nose part in the upwind direction and a cylindrical tail extending into the downflow direction. There is, however, a need to discuss whether or not the proposed heliopause configurations can be expected to be stable with respect to magnetohydrodynamical or hydrodynamical perturbations caused by time-dependent or turbulent structures in the counterflowing plasmas