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Multipoint Density Measurements of Geocoronal Pickup Ions
Author(s) -
Gomez R. G.,
Fuselier S. A.,
Sokół J. M.,
Burch J. L.,
Malaspina D. M.,
Trattner K. J.,
Gonzalez C. A.,
Mukherjee J.,
Strangeway R. J.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2021gl093695
Subject(s) - spacecraft , pickup , magnetosphere , ion , plasma , hydrogen , physics , inverse , solar wind , computational physics , astrobiology , materials science , astronomy , nuclear physics , geometry , computer science , mathematics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics)
Observations of the plasma environment outside of the Earth's magnetosphere by the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Hot Plasma Composition Analyzers (MMS‐HPCAs) allow density measurements of geocoronal hydrogen pickup ions (PUIs). A study of this environment from December 4, 2019 to December 6, 2019, part of a single orbital period of the MMS spacecraft, revealed an inverse square dependence on PUI density. This dependence corresponds well with an inverse‐cube dependence on the neutral hydrogen density within the geocorona.