Voyager 1 and 2 crossed the heliopause at ∼122 AU in 2012 and ∼119
AU in 2018, respectively. It was quite a surprise because the thickness of the
inner heliosheath obtained by the existing at that time models of the global
heliosphere was significantly larger (by 20-40 AU). Until now, the problem of
the heliosheath thickness has not been fully resolved. Earlier in the frame of
an oversimplified toy model of nearly isothermal solar wind plasma it has been
shown that the effect of electron thermal conduction may significantly reduce
the thickness of the inner heliosheath.
In this paper, we present the first results of our 3D kinetic-MHD model of
the global heliosphere, where the effect of thermal electron conduction has
been considered rigorously. The thermal conduction acts mainly along the
magnetic field lines. Classical and saturated thermal fluxes are employed when
appropriate.
It is shown the effects of thermal conduction are significant. The thickness
of the inner heliospheric is reduced. It is desired effect since it helps to
reconcile the thickness obtained in the model with Voyager data. The other
effects are the strong depletion of the heliosheath plasma temperature toward
the heliopause and the increase of the plasma temperature in the supersonic
solar wind upstream of the termination shock.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA