Three-Dimensional Features of the Outer Heliosphere Due to Coupling Between the Interstellar and Interplanetary Magnetic Fields. Iii. The Effects of Solar Rotation and Activity Cycle

We investigate the effects of the 11 year solar cycle and 25 day rotation period of the Sun on the interaction of the solar wind (SW) with the local interstellar medium (LISM). Our models take into account the partially ionized character of the LISM and include momentum and energy transfer between the ionized and neutral components. We assume that the interstellar magnetic field vector belongs to the hydrogen deflection plane as discovered in the SOHO SWAN experiment. This plane is inclined at an angle of about 60° toward the ecliptic plane of the Sun, as suggested in recent publications relating the local interstellar cloud properties to the radio emission observed by Voyager 1 . It is assumed that the latitudinal extent of the boundary between the slow and fast SW regions, as well as the angle between the Sun's rotation and magnetic-dipole axes, are periodic functions of time, while the polarity of the interstellar magnetic field changes sign every 11 years at the solar maximum. The global variation of the SW–LISM interaction pattern, the excursions of the termination shock and the heliopause, and parameter distributions in certain directions are investigated. The analysis of the behavior of the wavy heliospheric current sheet in the supersonic SW region shows the importance of neutral atoms on its dynamics.