Randy Jokipii (UA) - Cosmic Rays in the Outer Heliosphere and Beyond

Time……… Friday, Oct 17th 2014, 10:30 -- 11:45 am Where……  Room 415, North Physics Building Title………  Cosmic Rays in the Outer Heliosphere and Beyond: Understanding the Voyager 1 Observations     Speaker…   Randy Jokipii, Academician of the US National Academy of Science, and Regents' Professor of Planetary Sciences and Astronomy from University of Arizona

Abstract: Galactic cosmic rays enter the heliosphere from the interstellar medium and the anomalous cosmic rays are accelerated in the outer heliosphere.  They are sensitive probes of physical processes occurring in the outer heliosphere and local interstellar medium.  The recent observations of Voyager 1 have presented serious challenges to our understanding of the nature of the heliopause (the very thin boundary separating the heliosphere from the interstellar plasma), the termination shock of the solar wind, and the source of anomalous cosmic rays.  They also provide evidence for the propagation of solar disturbances propagating out into the interstellar plasma.  I will discuss the most-recent Voyager observations and their consequences for our theoretical understanding.