The protonopause-an ion composition boundary in the magnetosheath of comets, Venus and Mars

Details The protonopause-an ion composition boundary in the magnetosheath of comets, Venus and Mars The protonopause-an ion composition boundary in the magnetosheath of comets, Venus and Mars

Aug 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995adspr..16q.153s&link_type=abstract

Advances in Space Research (ISSN 0273-1177), vol. 16, no. 4, p. (4)153-(4)158

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

14

Astronomical Models, Boundary Layer Plasmas, Comets, Heavy Ions, Magnetosheath, Mars (Planet), Solar Wind, Venus (Planet), Computerized Simulation, Density (Mass/Volume), Elastic Waves, Giotto Mission, International Sun Earth Explorer 3, Magnetohydrodynamics, Potential Gradients, Protons, Vega Project

Scientific paper

The interaction of the solar wind with heavy ions continuously produced by ionization from a background neutral gas cloud is studied in the framework of a collisionless 2D bi-ion fluid model in which the motion of both ion species is coupled exclusively by electromagnetic forces. It is shown that a magnetosheath plasma boundary is formed which has signatures of a bi-ion double layer separating the plasma mixture of protons and heavies from the purely heavy ion plasma. At the self generated potential jump the solar wind protons are stopped and deflected whereas the heavy ions have enough energy to penetrate it. This discontinuity, called here protonopause, is formed in a region where the heavy ion density becomes comparable to the solar wind proton density. We suggest that the protonopause reflects main features of the hitherto unexplained plasma boundaries at comets (cometopause, pile-up boundary), Venus (rarefraction wave, intermediate transition) and Mars (planetopause, mass-loading boundary).

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The protonopause-an ion composition boundary in the magnetosheath of comets, Venus and Mars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The protonopause-an ion composition boundary in the magnetosheath of comets, Venus and Mars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The protonopause-an ion composition boundary in the magnetosheath of comets, Venus and Mars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1267701