Title: The formation of magnetic depletions and flux annihilation due to reconnection in the heliosheath,
Abstract: The misalignment of the solar rotation axis and the magnetic axis of the Sun
produces a periodic reversal of the Parker spiral magnetic field and the
sectored solar wind. The compression of the sectors is expected to lead to
reconnection in the heliosheath (HS). We present particle-in-cell simulations
of the sectored HS that reflect the plasma environment along the Voyager 1 and
2 trajectories, specifically including unequal positive and negative azimuthal
magnetic flux as seen in the Voyager data \citep{Burlaga03}. Reconnection
proceeds on individual current sheets until islands on adjacent current layers
merge. At late time bands of the dominant flux survive, separated by bands of
deep magnetic field depletion. The ambient plasma pressure supports the strong
magnetic pressure variation so that pressure is anti-correlated with magnetic
field strength. There is little variation in the magnetic field direction
across the boundaries of the magnetic depressions. At irregular intervals
within the magnetic depressions are long-lived pairs of magnetic islands where
the magnetic field direction reverses so that spacecraft data would reveal
sharp magnetic field depressions with only occasional crossings with jumps in
magnetic field direction. This is typical of the magnetic field data from the
Voyager spacecraft \citep{Burlaga11,Burlaga16}. Voyager 2 data reveals that
fluctuations in the density and magnetic field strength are anti-correlated in
the sector zone as expected from reconnection but not in unipolar regions. The
consequence of the annihilation of subdominant flux is a sharp reduction in the
"number of sectors" and a loss in magnetic flux as documented from the Voyager
1 magnetic field and flow data \citep{Richardson13}.