Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Mar 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001apj...549l.147b&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 549, Issue 1, pp. L147-L150.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
38
Atomic Data, Atomic Processes, Comets: General, X-Rays: General
Scientific paper
Laboratory measurements of the interaction of low-energy, bare, and hydrogen-like ions with neutral gases are presented. The measurements demonstrate that charge-exchange-induced cometary K-shell X-ray spectra represent rich spectral diagnostics for determining the speed of the solar wind and the collision dynamics within the coma. We show that the K-shell spectrum observed from low-energy ion-neutral collisions (<= 50 km s-1) has a distinct high-energy component that is suppressed in high-energy collisions (>=800 km s-1). As a result, the hardness ratio of the K-shell spectrum increases by as much as a factor of 4 as the ions decelerate in the coma. The change in spectral shape can be observed even with low-resolution energy dispersive solid-state detectors, opening the possibility of spatial imaging of the solar wind heavy-ion velocity profile in the coma. Our results clearly show that energy-dependent data are needed to fully describe charge-exchange-induced X-ray production in the heliosphere.
Beiersdorfer Peter
Brown Gregory V.
Chen Haibin
Lisse Carey Michael
Olson R. E.
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