Electron-impact ionization of interstellar hydrogen and helium at interplanetary shocks

Details Electron-impact ionization of interstellar hydrogen and helium at interplanetary shocks Electron-impact ionization of interstellar hydrogen and helium at interplanetary shocks

Apr 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995georl..22..873i&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276), vol. 22, no. 8, p. 873-875

Physics

5

Helium Ions, Hydrogen Ions, Interstellar Matter, Photoionization, Solar Electrons, Solar Protons, Energetic Particles, Solar Wind, Spatial Distribution, Ulysses Mission

Scientific paper

We investigate the ionization of interstellar hydrogen and helium due to electron impact by shock-heated electrons. Taking the electron distributions measured at four interplanetary shocks at 1 AU, we show that the electrons in the downstream region of strong shocks can ionize interstellar atoms at rates matching or exceeding the nominal photoionization or charge-exchange rates. We suggest that this process may explain some puzzling observations of interstellar pickup ions by the Ulysses spacecraft.

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