Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apj...467..865g&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.467, p.865
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Sun: Solar Wind, Interplanetary Medium
Scientific paper
Our knowledge of the various heliospheric phenomena (location of the solar wind termination shock, heliopause configuration, and very local interstellar medium parameters) is limited by uncertainties in the available heliospheric plasma models and by calibration uncertainties in the observing instruments. There is, thus a strong motivation to develop model-insensitive and calibration-independent methods to reduce the uncertainties in the relevant heliospheric parameters. We have developed such a method to constrain the downstream neutral hydrogen density inside the heliospheric tail. In our approach we have taken advantage of the relative insensitivity of the downstream neutral hydrogen density profile to the specific plasma model adopted. We have also used the fact that the presence of an asymmetric neutral hydrogen cavity surrounding the Sun, characteristic of all neutral density models, results in a higher multiple scattering contribution to the observed glow in the downstream region than in the upstream region. This allows us to approximate the actual density profile with one which is spatially uniform for the purpose of calculating the downstream backscattered glow. Using different spatially constant density profiles, radiative transfer calculations are performed, and the radial dependence of the predicted glow is compared with the observed 1/R dependence of Pioneer 10 UV data. Such a comparison bounds the large distance heliosperic neutral hydrogen density in the downstream direction to a value between 0.05 and 0.1 cc-1.
Gangopadhyay Pradip
Judge Darrell L.
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