Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p23a0054p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P23A-0054
Mathematics
Logic
2459 Planetary Ionospheres (5435, 5729, 6026), 5421 Interactions With Particles And Fields, 5440 Magnetic Fields And Magnetism, 5462 Polar Regions, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
Reported measurements of the Mars environment conducted with the reflecting grating spectrometer (RGS) of the XMM-Newton earth orbiter have provided evidence of emission line components in the X -ray spectrum including the fluorescent scattering of solar X - rays in the upper atmosphere and also an exospheric halo. In a recent study (Dennerl et al., 2006) it has been indicated that numerous X - ray emission lines become prominent as a result of the de-excitation of highly ionized heavy atoms, and that they lead to the observed X - ray flux of the Martian exosphere. The morphological X - ray emission distribution implied by the data reveals that the emission region is more prominent over the polar regions suggesting that a more intense solar wind induced erosion is produced at those regions. Arguments that support this interpretation have been proposed in regard to the geometry of the solar wind erosion of the Venus ionosphere (Pérez-de-Tejada, 2001) where plasma channels that extend downstream from the magnetic polar regions serve to account for the observation of ionospheric holes. Large lobes or plumes of eroded ionospheric material extending downstream from those regions have been predicted in association with the formation of plasma channels and are expected to produce a density distribution in the plasma wake that is similar to that inferred from the RGS measurements of Mars. We suggest that in addition to charge-exchange interactions between solar wind heavy ions and neutral particles in the Mars exosphere X - ray emission can also be produced by the de-excitation of planetary ions that have been heated up through dissipation processes associated with the transport of solar wind momentum to the magnetic polar regions of the Mars upper ionosphere. Estimates of the temperature of the planetary ion population responsible for the X - ray emission lead to values near 10(6) K which are comparable to those reported from measurements conducted at the flanks of the interaction region of the solar wind with the Venus ionosphere.
Duran-Manterola H. J.
Jayakumar S.
Perez-de-Tejada H. A.
Zenteno D. T.
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