H2+ pickup ions in the solar wind: Outgassing of interplanetary dust

Details H2+ pickup ions in the solar wind: Outgassing of interplanetary dust H2+ pickup ions in the solar wind: Outgassing of interplanetary dust

Jul 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996jgr...10115555g&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 101, Issue A7, p. 15555-15568

Physics

15

Interplanetary Physics: Pickup Ions, Interplanetary Physics: Interplanetary Dust, Interplanetary Physics: Neutral Particles

Scientific paper

Heliospheric neutral atoms and molecules can be ionized and picked up by the solar wind plasma flow. A new generation of space plasma instruments allows detailed study of the solar wind pickup ions with high sensitivity. Detection of H2+ pickup ions in the solar wind is an exceptionally sensitive tool for the search of molecular hydrogen in the heliosphere. Possible sources of neutral molecular hydrogen include contributions from the local interstellar medium, release from cometary bodies, and outgassing of interplanetary dust. The flux of the solar wind H2+ pickup ions due to outgassing of interplanetary dust is theoretically established in this work. Solar wind ions bombard and penetrate dust grains where they are neutralized and subsequently released in the form of neutral atoms and molecules. The processes of molecular hydrogen interaction with the solar radiation and solar wind plasma are considered in detail and the process rates are determined. Solar wind H2+ pickup ion fluxes are obtained for heliocentric distances <5 AU for different heliocentric latitudes. These heliocentric radial and latitudinal dependences would provide guidance for search of the solar wind H2+ pickup ions by Ulysses, WIND, and SOHO missions.

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