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Observations of Pickup Ions and their Tails in the Heliosphere and Heliosheath

Observations of Pickup Ions and their Tails in the Heliosphere and Heliosheath. George Gloeckler University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Implications of Interstellar Neutral Matter Holloway Commons Piscataqua Room University of New Hampshire November 15 & 16, 2011. Overview.

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Observations of Pickup Ions and their Tails in the Heliosphere and Heliosheath

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  1. Observations of Pickup Ions and their Tails in the Heliosphere and Heliosheath George Gloeckler University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Implications of Interstellar Neutral Matter Holloway Commons PiscataquaRoom University of New Hampshire November 15 & 16, 2011

  2. Overview Charge exchange plays a central role in the interaction of neutral gas with plasmas - Pickup Ions are created from ambient slow moving neutrals by charge exchange, photoionization and electron impact ionization - Energetic Neutrals (ENAs) are produced by charge exchange with the ambient neutral gas - Pickup Ions are affected by solar wind compressions and expansions, and their spectra reveal these conditions along the solar wind flow direction from the sun to the location of the spacecraft - Pickup Ion densities depend on local neutral densities and ionization rates, and their spectra reveal variations in these along the solar wind flow direction from the sun to observer - Pickup Ions are the core population that feeds and grows suprathermal tails by the pumping acceleration mechanism - In the heliosheath these tails grow further in energy to become the Anomalous Cosmic Rays (ACRs) near the heliopause, their modulated spectra observed throughout the heliosphere and heliosheath - Pickup ions and their extended tails reveal the composition of their neutral source (e.g. interstellar gas, Inner Source, cometary gas) - ENAs provide information on plasmas, spectra and composition of pickup ions and their extended tails in remote regions such as the heliosheath

  3. 0.01 0.1 1.0 10 100 Sources of Pickup Ions Distributed Sources •Interstellar Neutrals • Extended Inner Source - Evaporated or sputtered material from interstellar dust and small objects (e.g. KBO) > ~1 AU - Vaporization of dust in dust-dust collisions (~10-200 Rs) - Dust-desorbed atoms and molecules (~10-200 Rs) (‘Recycled Solar Wind’) Local Sources • Sun-Grazing Comets • Cometary Neutrals • Planetary Neutrals Pickup ions are newly ionized atoms or molecules that are picked up by the solar wind and carried outward Pickup ions H, N, O, Ne, Ar IS atoms IP dust AU IS dust Sun IS atoms He Termination shock dust - dust collisions

  4. Use composition measurements of Pickup Ions Pickup Ion Tails in the HS Anomalous Cosmic Rays in the HS to deduce the densities of atoms near the Termination Shock LIC Composition neutral gas pickup ions grains Neutrals from LIC are detected inside the heliosphere and in the heliosheath (HS) •directly in the heliosphere (H, He, O, Ne ) •as pickup ions in the heliosphere •as pickup ion Tails in the HS •as Anomalous Cosmic Rays in the HS

  5. Four-component Differential Energy Spectrum • - Bulk Solar wind • - Halo solar wind • - Pickup protons • Suprathermal tail • In the solar wind frame the tail spectrum has the form • dj/dE = joE–1.5exp[–(E/Eo)0.63] • Eo = 0.72 MeV • In the spacecraft frame the spectra are steeper than -5

  6. Four-component Proton Velocity Distribution in all of 1998 • - Bulk Solar wind • - Halo solar wind • - Pickup protons • Suprathermal tail • In the solar wind frame the tail spectrum has the form • f(v) = fov–5exp[–(v/vo)α] • The exponential rollover parameters voand α will vary, since they depend on ambient solar wind conditions, e.g. spatial diffusion coefficient

  7. Measured and Model Quiet-time Velocity Distributions of Protons and He+ in the High Speed (Coronal Hole) Solar Wind The He+ distribution has three components • Interstellar He+ • He+ from charge exchange of neutral hydrogen with solar wind He++and some Inner Source He+ • Suprathermal tail is not observed because the upper energy limit of SWICS in the high speed solar wind is just above W=2 The proton distribution has four components • Bulk solar wind (maxwellian) • Halo solar wind (kappa function, κ= 3) • Interstellar pickup protons • Suprathermal tail (power law,γ = -5 in solar wind frame)

  8. Phase Space Density in the Solar Wind Frame Different shapes below the cutoff speed (w ≈ 1) reflect the different radial profiles of interstellar neutral H and He caused by different ionization rates The tail spectrum has the form f(v) = fov–5exp[–(v/vo)α] with the exponential rollover parameters voand α determined by ambient solar wind conditions, e.g. spatial diffusion coefficient and its dependence on rigidity

  9. Model Phase Space Densities of of H and He in the Solar Wind Frame ~3.7 AU –50° Lat

  10. Model and Measured Velocity Distributions of of H, N, O and Ne in the Spacecraft Frame All of 1998 βprod = βloss = 5•10-7 s-1 NH(95 AU) = 8•10-6 cm-3 Simple ‘hot model’ with standard interstellar parameters was used to calculate the model curves The loss rates, βloss were selected to fit spectral shapes βprod = βloss Neutral hydrogen density just upstream of the Termination Shock is βprod = βloss = 8•10-7 s-1 NH(95 AU) = 0.095 cm-3 8 years (1991- 1993, 1997-2001 and 2003) βprod = βloss = 4•10-7 s-1 NH(95 AU) = 7•10-6 cm-3 βprod = βloss = 6•10-7 s-1 NH(95 AU) = 6.6•10-5 cm-3 8 years (1991- 1993, 1997-2001 and 2003) 8 years (1991- 1993, 1997-2001 and 2003)

  11. Measured Velocity Distributions of H to Fe at 1AU with ACE/SWICS and ULEIS in the Spacecraft Frame H+, He++, He+ (SWICS) H4, He, C, O, Fe (ULEIS) H+, He++, He+ (SWICS) H4, He, C, O, Fe (ULEIS) - Pickup ions as well as the bulk and halo solar wind are strongly heated in CIRs - Model spectra of the form dj/dE = joE–1.5exp[–(m/q)0.27(E/Ec)0.63] withEc = 0.72 MeV/n provide good fits to the data

  12. ENA Hydrogen Spectrum and and Low Energy Proton Spectrum in the Heliosheath The ENA Hydrogen spectrum is a superposition of four distinct components produced by charge exchange with the ambient interstellar gas in the heliosheath Heliosheath Solar Wind Heliosheath Pickup H+ Heliospheric Pickup H+ F&G suprathermal Tail Density of (c) downstream of the TS is taken to be 6•10-4 cm-3 Sum of all four components fits the observed EHA spectrum The fact that the SoHO EHAs fall ~ a factor of two below the model curve may be due to changes in the heliosheath thickness with time and viewing direction

  13. Heliosheath Proton Spectrum at Different Distances in the Heliosheath Model differential intensities for four heliosheath proton populations as would be measured with a large field-of-view particle detector in the heliosheath near the termination shock at ~91 AU (solid curve) in the transition region with high turbulence δu2 at ~140 AU (dashed curve) near the heliopause at ~148 AU dotted curve) Local Tail at 110 AU (blue circles, V-1) Modulated ACRs at 104 AU (red circles, V-1 CRS) GCRs are not shown Populations (b) and (c) are not measured by Voyagers.

  14. Composition of Interstellar Gas from Heliosheath Tails and ACRs Voyager 1 velocity distributions of H, He, O, N, Ne, and Ar (also C and Fe), in the heliosheath, averaged over 2.8 years Fits to the lower energy data of F&G tail distributions (–5 power laws with gentle roll over) were obtained and tail pressures computes Ratios (relative to He) of H, N, O, Ne and Ar pickup ion fluxes in the heliosheath were derived from the respective pressure ratios F&G Tail Modulated ACRs

  15. Modulated ACR spectrum Modulation function Rollover function 5%/AU 16 MeV/nuc He gradient is built in ro = 100 AU; A is (m/q); λis e-folding distance of solar wind speed decrease

  16. Composition of Interstellar Gas from Heliospheric Pickup Ions, Heliosheath Tails and ACRs

  17. Densities of interstellar H, He, N, O, Ne and Ar at ~100 AU from averages of Pickup ions (all but He and Ar), Heliosheath Tails (all but H, He and Ar), and ACRs (all except H, He, O)

  18. Pressures (dyne/cm2) in Bulk Solar Wind, Pickup Ions and Tail in Various Regions of the Solar System †Core (Pickup proton) pressure is based on model calculations

  19. Source of He+ near W = 1 Two primary sources: (a) Inner Source He+, (b) Solar He+ by charge exchange He++ + H –––> He+ + H+ He++ + He –––> He+ + He+ Slow Solar Wind Conditions • Inner Source Flux (cm-2 s-1) • Crosswind • • Heliocentric distance (AU) Ulysses at 1.4 AU

  20. Sources of He+ near W = 1 Two primary sources (a) Inner Source He+ (b) Solar He+ by charge exchange At 1 AU Inner Source dominates The tail just above W = 2 is much steeper in the spacecraft frame than it is just above w = 2 in the spacecraft frame Inner Source Interstellar Pickup He+ -5 Tail

  21. Contributions from Inner Source and Solar Wind to He+ at W≈1 at 1.4 and 5.4 AU • Sources of “Solar Wind” He+ include (a) e.g. dust-desorbed He (inner source) and (b) charge-exchanged He+ from neutral H whose density decreases with decreasing radial distance • At 1.4 AU the ‘Inner Source’ He+ density is larger than the ‘Solar Wind’ He+ density • At 5.4 AU the ‘Solar Wind’ He+ density exceeds the ‘Inner Source’ He+ density

  22. Velocity Distributions of Inner Source and Interstellar Pick up O+ Since the H/O, He/O, C/O, N/O and Ne/O ratios in the In-ecliptic Inner Source are nearly identical in the corresponding ratios in the In-ecliptic solar wind it is likely that most of the Inner Source pickup ions originate as dust-desorbed

  23. Inner Source Composition Detection of C+, Mg+, Si+ and molecular ions including water-group molecules at ~ 5 AU with speeds above W≈ 1.25 indicates a significant inner source that extends at least up to 5 AU.

  24. Inner Source and Solar Wind Compositions • Since the H/O, He/O, C/O, N/O and Ne/O ratios in the In-ecliptic Inner Source are nearly identical in the corresponding ratios in the In-ecliptic solar wind it is likely that most of the Inner Source pickup ions originate as dust-desorbed atoms and molecules • Because the In-ecliptic Inner Source has He and Ne it is unlikely that most of the Inner Source pickup ions come from cometary material

  25. Hourly Variations of Interstellar Pickup He Density and Solar Wind Bulk and Thermal Speeds He Focusing Cone • Spikes in Pickup He density most often coincide with large rapid increases in the solar wind bulk and especially thermal speeds (compression regions) • Broader dips (minima) in tail densities are well correlated with gradual decreases in the solar wind bulk and thermal speeds (expansion regions) • He Focusing cone is clearly visible in the smoothed data (light blue curve)

  26. Hourly Variations of Interstellar Pickup He Density and Solar Wind Bulk and Thermal Speeds • Spike in Pickup He density at DOY ~357 is associated with rapid increase in solar wind thermal speed • Spike in Pickup He density at DOY ~380 is associated with a very minor rapid increase in local solar wind thermal speed and hardly any increase in the solar wind bulk speed

  27. Pickup He 1-hour Velocity Distribution on DOY 357 This one-hour pickup He+ spectrum is at a spike in the pickup ion density which is associated with a fairly rapid increase in solar wind thermal and bulk speeds (compression region)

  28. Pickup He 1-hour Velocity Distribution on DOY 361 This one-hour pickup He+ spectrum is at a dip in the pickup ion density which is associated with a fairly rapid increase in solar wind thermal and bulk speeds (expansion region)

  29. Pickup He 1-hour Velocity Distribution on DOY 14 This one-hour pickup He+ spectrum is at a spike in the pickup ion density which is associated with at best a very slight increase in the solar wind thermal speed and hardly any change in the solar wind bulk speed

  30. 2008 Helium Focusing Cone at 1 AU Large hourly density variations on top of a smoothed density profile of the He+ cone (light blue curve) Model cone density profile (dashed red curve) is computed using standard parameters and observed photoionization rate, and then scaled by (1/12) Model cone density profile scaled to fit observed profile (red curve) Pickup He+ cone is wider than neutral He cone indicating transport of He+ ions Electron impact ionization most likely contributes to reduce the neutral He density in the inner heliosphere Hourly density of He+ computed by integrating the solar wind frame velocity distribution (assumed to be isotropic) from w = 0.2 to 1.2

  31. Summary

  32. Conclusions • - Electron impact ionization plays an important role, particularly in the inner • heliosphere (< 1A) and close to the sun • - Large temporal increases in the hourly He+ density are often associated with • compression regions in the solar wind • - Low hourly He+ densities (dips) are often associated with expansion regions in the • solar wind • - Complex hourly He+ spectra with multiple peaks are often observed, providing • information on solar wind structure along the flow direction between the sun and • spacecraft • - Velocity distributions of Inner Source pickup ions peak below W =1 (at about • 0.95W) indicating anisotropies in their spectra close to the sun • - Spectral shapes of Inner Source pickup ions indicate that their neutral source • peaks at about 0.04 to 0.08 AU, but extends to 1 AU and beyond (i.e. extended • Inner Source) • - Pickup ions as well as the bulk and halo solar wind are strongly heated in CIRs • - Inner source elemental composition is similar to that of the solar wind but also • many molecular ions are also observed consistent with the ‘recycled solar wind’ • as its source • - Pickup Ions are the core population that feeds and grows suprathermal tails by the F&G pumping acceleration mechanism

  33. END

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