The Twist of the Draped Interstellar Magnetic Field Ahead of the Heliopause: A Magnetic Reconnection Driven Rotational Discontinuity

Based on the difference between the orientation of the interstellar B-ISM and the solar magnetic fields, there was an expectation that the magnetic field direction would rotate dramatically across the heliopause (HP). However, the Voyager 1 spacecraft measured very little rotation across the HP. Previously, we showed that the B-ISM twists as it approaches the HP and acquires a strong T component (east-west). Here, we establish that reconnection in the eastern flank of the heliosphere is responsible for the twist. On the eastern flank the solar magnetic field has twisted into the positive N direction and reconnects with the southward pointing component of the B-ISM. Reconnection drives a rotational discontinuity (RD) that twists the B-ISM into the -T direction and propagates upstream in the interstellar medium toward the nose. The consequence is that the N component of B-ISM is reduced in a finite width band upstream of the HP. Voyager 1 currently measures angles (delta = sin(-1) B-N/B)) close to solar values. We present MHD simulations to support this scenario, suppressing reconnection in the nose region while allowing it in the flanks, consistent with recent ideas about reconnection suppression from diamagnetic drifts. The jump in plasma beta (the plasma to magnetic pressure) across the nose of HP is much greater than in the flanks because the heliosheath beta is greater there than in the flanks. Large-scale reconnection is therefore suppressed in the nose but not at the flanks. Simulation data suggest that B-ISM will return to its pristine value 10-15 au past the HP.