Injection and acceleration of interstellar pickup ions at the heliospheric termination shock

Details Injection and acceleration of interstellar pickup ions at the heliospheric termination shock Injection and acceleration of interstellar pickup ions at the heliospheric termination shock

Feb 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995jgr...100.1745k&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227), vol. 100, no. A2, p. 1745-1754

Physics

62

Heliosphere, Injection, Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, Interstellar Gas, Particle Acceleration, Shock Waves, Solar Wind, Ion Density (Concentration), Mach Number, Pitch (Inclination), Upstream, Velocity Distribution

Scientific paper

We have used a one-dimensional hybrid code (macro-ions, massless electron fluid) in order to study the interaction of an interstellar pickup ion distribution with the heliospheric termination shock. The shock is generated by reflecting the solar plasma at a rigid wall. The interstellar pickup ions are additional populations modeled as spheres in velocity space with radii given by the solar wind speed, comoving with the solar wind. The pickup ions are located on the outer shell of the spheres. We have determined the reflection rates of the pickup ions, which have been defined as the ratio of the reflected to the incident pickup ions at the shock. The dependence of these reflection rates on the shock normal angle ThetaBn and on an upstream imposed turbulence has been investigated. No backscattered pickup ions are found for ThetaBn greater than 70 deg and the reflection rates decrease with increasing level of upstream imposed turbulence. The dependence of the reflection rate on the ratio of the upstream pickup proton density to the upstream solar wind density has been investigated. Since this ratio is proportional to the heliospheric distance of the termination shock we have been able to investigate the reflection rates of the pickup ions at different heliospheric locations of the termination shock. Based on these hybrid simulations a model for the acceleration of anomalous component of the cosmic rays has been developed which is able to explain the differential flux of anomalous helium at the termination shock needed in modulation calculations to fit observations in the inner heliosphere. In this model we have not included the influence of the anomalous component on the shock structure. From comparison with modulation calculations it is concluded that the location of the termination shock is at distances between 80 and 120 AU.

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