Broadening of the interplanetary helium cone structure due to elastic collisions of LISM helium atoms with solar wind ions

Technical Report · Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5774709

Fahr, H J; Nass, H U; Rucinski, D

Neutral interstellar particles penetrating into the heliosphere, besides being subject there to specific loss processes, suffer elastic collisions with KeV-solar wind ions. The momentum transfer to the neutrals connected with these collisions leads to a loss of angular momentum with respect to the Sun and to a fractional compensation of the effective solar gravity. The dynamical particle trajectories hence are changed into non-Keplerians leading to density and temperature distributions differing from those calculated in the past. This is found from a solution of the Boltzmann equation that linearizes the effect of this additional force. It is shown that the HeI-584A resonance glow of the heliospheric helium cone lead to substantially lower interstellar helium temperatures if re-interpreted on the basis of this revised theory. These temperatures now seem to be in accordance with the derived temperatures for interstellar hydrogen.

• Research Organization: Bonn Univ. (Germany, F.R.)
• OSTI ID: 5774709
• Report Number(s): N-85-15543
• Resource Relation: Other Information: In NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Local Interstellar Medium, No. 81, 32-37p. (N--85-15539 06-90)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
BOLTZMANN EQUATION
COLLISIONS
ELASTIC SCATTERING
HELIUM
INTERPLANETARY SPACE
MOMENTUM TRANSFER
SOLAR WIND
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELEMENTS
EQUATIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
NONMETALS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
RARE GASES
SCATTERING
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SPACE
640105* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Galaxies