CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS?
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft is providing the first all-sky maps of the energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) produced by charge exchange between interstellar neutral Ho atoms and heliospheric solar wind and pickup ions in the heliosphere boundary regions. The "edge" of th...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95803 |
| _version_ | 1826207781962645504 |
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| author | Frisch, P. Heerikhuisen, Jacob Pogorelov, Nikolai V. DeMajistre, R. Crew, Geoffrey B. Funsten, H. O. Janzen, Paul H. McComas, David J. Mobius, Eberhard Mueller, Hans-Reinhard Reisenfeld, Daniel Brett Schwadron, Nathan A. Slavin, Jonathan D. Zank, Gary Paul |
| author2 | Haystack Observatory |
| author_facet | Haystack Observatory Frisch, P. Heerikhuisen, Jacob Pogorelov, Nikolai V. DeMajistre, R. Crew, Geoffrey B. Funsten, H. O. Janzen, Paul H. McComas, David J. Mobius, Eberhard Mueller, Hans-Reinhard Reisenfeld, Daniel Brett Schwadron, Nathan A. Slavin, Jonathan D. Zank, Gary Paul |
| author_sort | Frisch, P. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft is providing the first all-sky maps of the energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) produced by charge exchange between interstellar neutral Ho atoms and heliospheric solar wind and pickup ions in the heliosphere boundary regions. The "edge" of the interstellar cloud presently surrounding the heliosphere extends less than 0.1 pc in the upwind direction, terminating at an unknown distance, indicating that the outer boundary conditions of the heliosphere could change during the lifetime of the IBEX satellite. Using reasonable values for future outer heliosphere boundary conditions, ENA fluxes are predicted for one possible source of ENAs coming from outside of the heliopause. The ENA-production simulations use three-dimensional MHD plasma models of the heliosphere that include a kinetic description of neutrals and a Lorentzian distribution for ions. Based on this ENA-production model, it is then shown that the sensitivities of the IBEX 1.1 keV skymaps are sufficient to detect the variations in ENA fluxes that are expected to accompany the solar transition into the next upwind cloud. Approximately 20% of the IBEX 1.1 keV pixels appear capable of detecting the predicted model differences at the 3σ level, with these pixels concentrated in the Ribbon region. Regardless of the detailed ENA production model, the success of the modeled B centerdot R ~ 0 directions in reproducing the Ribbon locus, together with our results, indicates that the Ribbon phenomenon traces the variations in the heliosphere distortion caused by the relative pressures of the interstellar magnetic and gaseous components. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:54:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/95803 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:54:52Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/958032022-09-28T17:02:05Z CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? Frisch, P. Heerikhuisen, Jacob Pogorelov, Nikolai V. DeMajistre, R. Crew, Geoffrey B. Funsten, H. O. Janzen, Paul H. McComas, David J. Mobius, Eberhard Mueller, Hans-Reinhard Reisenfeld, Daniel Brett Schwadron, Nathan A. Slavin, Jonathan D. Zank, Gary Paul Haystack Observatory MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Crew, Geoffrey B. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft is providing the first all-sky maps of the energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) produced by charge exchange between interstellar neutral Ho atoms and heliospheric solar wind and pickup ions in the heliosphere boundary regions. The "edge" of the interstellar cloud presently surrounding the heliosphere extends less than 0.1 pc in the upwind direction, terminating at an unknown distance, indicating that the outer boundary conditions of the heliosphere could change during the lifetime of the IBEX satellite. Using reasonable values for future outer heliosphere boundary conditions, ENA fluxes are predicted for one possible source of ENAs coming from outside of the heliopause. The ENA-production simulations use three-dimensional MHD plasma models of the heliosphere that include a kinetic description of neutrals and a Lorentzian distribution for ions. Based on this ENA-production model, it is then shown that the sensitivities of the IBEX 1.1 keV skymaps are sufficient to detect the variations in ENA fluxes that are expected to accompany the solar transition into the next upwind cloud. Approximately 20% of the IBEX 1.1 keV pixels appear capable of detecting the predicted model differences at the 3σ level, with these pixels concentrated in the Ribbon region. Regardless of the detailed ENA production model, the success of the modeled B centerdot R ~ 0 directions in reproducing the Ribbon locus, together with our results, indicates that the Ribbon phenomenon traces the variations in the heliosphere distortion caused by the relative pressures of the interstellar magnetic and gaseous components. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA IBEX mission, Explorer Program, grant NNX09AG63G) 2015-03-04T17:30:03Z 2015-03-04T17:30:03Z 2010-08 2010-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0004-637X 1538-4357 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95803 Frisch, Priscilla C., Jacob Heerikhuisen, Nikolai V. Pogorelov, Bob DeMajistre, Geoffrey B. Crew, Herbert O. Funsten, Paul Janzen, et al. “ CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? .” The Astrophysical Journal 719, no. 2 (August 4, 2010): 1984–1992. © 2010 American Astronomical Society. en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/719/2/1984 Astrophysical Journal Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society American Astronomical Society |
| spellingShingle | Frisch, P. Heerikhuisen, Jacob Pogorelov, Nikolai V. DeMajistre, R. Crew, Geoffrey B. Funsten, H. O. Janzen, Paul H. McComas, David J. Mobius, Eberhard Mueller, Hans-Reinhard Reisenfeld, Daniel Brett Schwadron, Nathan A. Slavin, Jonathan D. Zank, Gary Paul CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? |
| title | CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? |
| title_full | CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? |
| title_fullStr | CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? |
| title_full_unstemmed | CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? |
| title_short | CAN IBEX IDENTIFY VARIATIONS IN THE GALACTIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE SUN USING ENERGETIC NEUTRAL ATOMS? |
| title_sort | can ibex identify variations in the galactic environment of the sun using energetic neutral atoms |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95803 |
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