Physical Processes in the Heliospheric Interface Region and their Implications for ENA Images

Details Physical Processes in the Heliospheric Interface Region and their Implications for ENA Images Physical Processes in the Heliospheric Interface Region and their Implications for ENA Images

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsh21b1518g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SH21B-1518

Physics

[2124] Interplanetary Physics / Heliopause And Solar Wind Termination, [2126] Interplanetary Physics / Heliosphere/Interstellar Medium Interactions, [2151] Interplanetary Physics / Neutral Particles, [2152] Interplanetary Physics / Pickup Ions

Scientific paper

The recent in situ measurements of particles and fields by Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and global heliospheric maps in fluxes of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) obtained by IBEX and Cassini/INCA have challenged our established concepts of the heliosphere interaction with the surrounding local interstellar medium. We review the physics of the interaction in an attempt to identify most important processes determining the dynamics and properties of the heliospheric sheath region. The non-thermal ion component and interstellar magnetic field clearly play significant roles in the interaction, as well as the flow of the warm interstellar plasma. We stress here that the basic conservation laws for energetic ions and neutrals constrain the processes that must be included in any valid formulation of particle transport. The termination shock can be viewed as a continuous source of energetic ions that are transported throughout the inner heliosheath, through the heliopause, and outward through the outer heliosheath and into the local interstellar medium. ENA images integrate the ENA production by energetic ions along lines of sight (LOS) that extend in principle to infinity, and hence are quite sensitive to the way that energetic ions and ENAs eventually escape this huge (~1000AU) system. Non-thermal ion and ENA space densities can be changed by three mechanisms: spatial transport (which by itself only rearranges the numbers of energetic ions and ENAs), energy gain and loss of ions in electric field, and elastic and inelastic collisions. Thus, only if these mechanisms are properly included in computational models can the salient features observed ENA images be replicated by the model simulations.

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