A revised theory of the charge-exchange coupling between plasma-gas counterflows in the heliosheath

Details A revised theory of the charge-exchange coupling between plasma-gas counterflows in the heliosheath A revised theory of the charge-exchange coupling between plasma-gas counterflows in the heliosheath

Sep 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aipc..679..129f&link_type=abstract

SOLAR WIND TEN: Proceedings of the Tenth International Solar Wind Conference. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 679, pp. 129-1

Physics

Particle Emission, Solar Wind, Solar Wind Plasma, Sources Of Solar Wind

Scientific paper

Various hydrodynamic models meanwhile were presented in the literature giving views of the interaction of the heliospheric plasma bubble with the counterflowing partially ionized interstellar medium in gradually increasing degrees of consistency. In these models the solar and interstellar hydrodynamic flows of neutral atoms and protons are coupled by mass-, momentum-, and energy- exchange terms due to charge exchange collisions between ionized and neutral particle species. In a simplified case by which we describe the main physics of the penetration of an H-atom flow through the well known plasma wall ahead of the heliopause, we show that the exchange terms used in the up-to-now hydrodynamic treatments unavoidably lead to an O-type critical point at the sonic point of the H-atom flow. At this point no continuation of the integration of the hydrodynamic set of differential equations is possible. As we show the way out of this problem is given by a more accurate formulation of the momentum exchange term for quasi- and sub-sonic H-atom flows. With a momentum exchange term derived from basic kinetic Boltzmann principles we instead arrive at a characteristic equation with an X-type critical point allowing for a contiunuous solution from supersonic to subsonic flow conditions. Under these new auspices the already often treated problem of the penetration of interstellar H-atoms into the inner heliosphere has to be revised since under these newly derived, more effective plasma - gas friction forces substantially different results are to be expected in this context.

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