Neutral atom transport from the termination shock to 1 AU
Abstract
Dynamics of H, D, and heavy Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENA) between the termination shock and 1 AU is discussed in the context of the forthcoming NASA SMEX mission IBEX. In particular, effects of the velocity-dependent radiation pressure on atomic trajectories are considered and ionization losses between TS and 1 AU are studied. It is shown, among others, that most of the dynamical effects and ionization losses are induced within a few AU from the Sun, which translates to the time domain into solar rotations before detection. This loosens considerably time requirements for tracking the ionization and radiation pressure history to just prior 3 months. ENA seem excellent tracers of the processes within the heliospheric interface, with the transport effects between the termination shock and detector relatively mild and easy to account for.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0604582,
title = {Neutral atom transport from the termination shock to 1 AU},
author = {Maciej Bzowski and Slawomir Tarnopolski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0604582},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
submitted to Proceedings of the 5-th IGPP Astrophysics Conference, Honolulu HI, March 2006; 6 pages