Simulating a Steady-state Heliosphere

Abstract Ever since the discovery of the solar wind, it has been understood that our solar system resides within a bubble of solar wind plasma that originates from the Sun. Due to its vast size, the geometry of this bubble, known as the heliosphere, remains a topic of conjecture and debate. Three-dimensional simulations, employing magnetohydrodynamics coupled to neutral particles, provide a key way of understanding the global flow dynamics on macroscopic scales. While many of these models suggest a comet-like shape with a single heliotail for the heliosphere, others have suggested geometries with two distinct outflows of solar wind plasma. In this paper we show how numerical simulations with the same boundary conditions may evolve differently, depending on factors such as initial conditions and run time. We find that the eventual steady state is the same comet-like shape, even for less than optimal choices of the initial condition.