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Title: Charge-exchange coupling between pickup ions across the heliopause and its effect on energetic neutral hydrogen flux

Abstract

Pickup ions (PUIs) appear to play an integral role in the multi-component nature of the plasma in the interaction between the solar wind (SW) and local interstellar medium (LISM). Three-dimensional (3D) MHD simulations with a kinetic treatment for neutrals and PUIs are currently still not viable. In light of recent energetic neutral atom (ENA) observations by the Interstellar Boundary EXplorer, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the complex coupling between PUIs across the heliopause (HP) as facilitated by ENAs using estimates of PUI properties extracted from a 3D MHD simulation of the SW-LISM interaction with kinetic neutrals. First, we improve upon the multi-component treatment of the inner heliosheath (IHS) plasma from Zank et al. by including the extinction of PUIs through charge-exchange. We find a significant amount of energy is transferred away from hot, termination shock-processed PUIs into a colder, "freshly injected" PUI population. Second, we extend the multi-component approach to estimate ENA flux from the outer heliosheath (OHS), formed from charge-exchange between interstellar hydrogen atoms and energetic PUIs. These PUIs are formed from ENAs in the IHS that crossed the HP and experienced charge-exchange. Lastly, our estimates, based on plasma-neutral simulations of the SW-LISM interaction and amore » post-processing analysis of ENAs and PUIs, suggest the majority of flux visible at 1 AU from the front of the heliosphere, between ~0.02 and 10 keV, originates from OHS PUIs, indicating strong coupling between the IHS and OHS plasmas through charge-exchange.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL (United States)
  2. Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States); Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
OSTI Identifier:
1326050
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0008334
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 783; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; ISM: atoms; ISM: bubbles; methods: numerical; solar wind; Sun: heliosphere

Citation Formats

Zirnstein, Eric J., Heerikhuisen, J., Zank, G. P., Pogorelov, N. V., McComas, D. J., and Desai, M. I. Charge-exchange coupling between pickup ions across the heliopause and its effect on energetic neutral hydrogen flux. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/783/2/129.
Zirnstein, Eric J., Heerikhuisen, J., Zank, G. P., Pogorelov, N. V., McComas, D. J., & Desai, M. I. Charge-exchange coupling between pickup ions across the heliopause and its effect on energetic neutral hydrogen flux. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/783/2/129
Zirnstein, Eric J., Heerikhuisen, J., Zank, G. P., Pogorelov, N. V., McComas, D. J., and Desai, M. I. Mon . "Charge-exchange coupling between pickup ions across the heliopause and its effect on energetic neutral hydrogen flux". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/783/2/129. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1326050.
@article{osti_1326050,
title = {Charge-exchange coupling between pickup ions across the heliopause and its effect on energetic neutral hydrogen flux},
author = {Zirnstein, Eric J. and Heerikhuisen, J. and Zank, G. P. and Pogorelov, N. V. and McComas, D. J. and Desai, M. I.},
abstractNote = {Pickup ions (PUIs) appear to play an integral role in the multi-component nature of the plasma in the interaction between the solar wind (SW) and local interstellar medium (LISM). Three-dimensional (3D) MHD simulations with a kinetic treatment for neutrals and PUIs are currently still not viable. In light of recent energetic neutral atom (ENA) observations by the Interstellar Boundary EXplorer, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the complex coupling between PUIs across the heliopause (HP) as facilitated by ENAs using estimates of PUI properties extracted from a 3D MHD simulation of the SW-LISM interaction with kinetic neutrals. First, we improve upon the multi-component treatment of the inner heliosheath (IHS) plasma from Zank et al. by including the extinction of PUIs through charge-exchange. We find a significant amount of energy is transferred away from hot, termination shock-processed PUIs into a colder, "freshly injected" PUI population. Second, we extend the multi-component approach to estimate ENA flux from the outer heliosheath (OHS), formed from charge-exchange between interstellar hydrogen atoms and energetic PUIs. These PUIs are formed from ENAs in the IHS that crossed the HP and experienced charge-exchange. Lastly, our estimates, based on plasma-neutral simulations of the SW-LISM interaction and a post-processing analysis of ENAs and PUIs, suggest the majority of flux visible at 1 AU from the front of the heliosphere, between ~0.02 and 10 keV, originates from OHS PUIs, indicating strong coupling between the IHS and OHS plasmas through charge-exchange.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/783/2/129},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
number = 2,
volume = 783,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Feb 24 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Mon Feb 24 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}

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