Pickup ions
Pickup ions are created from neutral atoms that are ionized by the sun. A general distinction is made between interstellar pickup ions, if the atoms come from the interstellar medium , and pickup ions from internal sources, i.e. from the solar system.
Interstellar pickup ions originate from the neutral component of the interstellar medium, which due to its relative movement to our sun flows through the heliosphere at a speed of 25 km / s. This neutral wind is successively ionized by charge exchange with the solar wind , ultraviolet radiation from the sun or electron impact ionization and thus represents the original population of the interstellar pickup ions. The ions that are created are carried by the magnetic field frozen in the solar wind and reach speeds of up to to a solar wind speed in the reference system of the solar wind.
The pick-up ions of the inner source arise from an interaction between the solar wind and interplanetary dust particles that has not yet been precisely understood.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Astrophysics and Space Science, 2000, Volume 274, Number 1–2, Page 97 R. Kallenbach, J. Geiss, G. Gloeckler
- ↑ Interstellar Pickup Ions at 1 AU with STEREO / PLASTIC