Using spectral slopes to characterize the origin of ENAs in the IBEX sky maps

Details Using spectral slopes to characterize the origin of ENAs in the IBEX sky maps Using spectral slopes to characterize the origin of ENAs in the IBEX sky maps

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsh21a1805l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SH21A-1805

Physics

Plasma Physics

[2124] Interplanetary Physics / Heliopause And Solar Wind Termination, [2126] Interplanetary Physics / Heliosphere/Interstellar Medium Interactions, [2151] Interplanetary Physics / Neutral Particles, [7837] Space Plasma Physics / Neutral Particles

Scientific paper

The solar wind exists in stationary states out of equilibrium and can be successfully described by kappa distributions [1]. The kappa index that governs these distributions lies between k~1.5 and infinity and characterizes how far the stationary state is from thermal equilibrium [2,3]. Equilibrium corresponds to kappa→infinity, while the specific index k→1.5 corresponds to the furthest stationary state from equilibrium. The special interval of kappa indices between k~1.5 and k~2.5, the far-equilibrium region, is found to be present in many space plasmas including solar wind [2]. Spontaneous processes that can increase entropy, drive the system away from that region and toward thermal equilibrium, while external factors that can decrease the entropy of the system, move it back into far-equilibrium stationary states. In the case of solar wind, newly formed pick-up ions can play just such a critical role because their motion is highly ordered, resulting that the inner heliosheath has to be characterized by stationary states with kappa indices in the far-equilibrium region [4]. Analysis of the IBEX-Hi Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) spectra show that the emissions are indeed characterized by kappa indices in the far-equilibrium region; these kappa indices directly indicate the source temperature and thus reveal the source locations of the ENAs. 1.Livadiotis, G., & McComas, D.J., 2009, JGR 114, A11105 (and reference therein). 2.Livadiotis, G., & McComas, D.J., 2010, ApJ 714, 971. 3.Livadiotis, G., & McComas, D.J., 2010, Phys. Scr. 82, 035003. 4.Livadiotis, G., & McComas, D.J., 2010, CSPAR 2010, AIP Conf. Proc. (In print).

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