Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004apj...606l..81b&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 606, Issue 1, pp. L81-L84.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
28
Atomic Processes, Comets: General, Solar System: General, Sun: Solar Wind, Ultraviolet: Solar System
Scientific paper
Strong X-ray and far-ultraviolet emission from comets is the direct result of charge exchange reactions of solar wind ions with the neutral coma of comets. Here we report experimental state-selective cross sections of electron capture and use these to predict cometary line emission. Our results show that helium line ratios are a direct diagnostic of the solar wind velocity, while their absolute intensities are linked to the local density of the solar wind. Comparison with observations of Hale-Bopp yields a velocity of 220 km s-1 and a helium density of 0.6 cm-3, and observations of Hyakutake show that it interacted with a faster wind of 375 km s-1 and a helium density of 10-3 cm-3. The potential of line emission by heavy minor ions is also demonstrated. Spectral lines with energies greater than 650 eV contain a wealth of information on the original composition of the wind, while lines at lower energies are used best to study the interaction processes themselves.
Bodewits Dennis
Hoekstra Roel
Juhász Z.
Tielens Alexander G. G. M.
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