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Concentration of interstellar pickup H + and He + in the solar wind
Author(s) -
Gloeckler G.,
Jokipii J. R.,
Giacalone J.,
Geiss J.
Publication year - 1994
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 - 10.1029/94gl01288
Subject(s) - solar wind , physics , pickup , heliosphere , flux (metallurgy) , hydrogen , helium , ionization , astrophysics , ion , plasma , atomic physics , atmospheric sciences , nuclear physics , chemistry , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
We present observations of interstellar pickup hydrogen and helium in the solar wind which show large, highly‐correlated fluctuations in flux which are not correlated significantly with the solar‐wind hydrogen flux. The correlation of the fluctuations in the two species implies that the fluctuations are caused by transport after ionization. The lack of correlation with the thermal flux means they are not caused by compressions of the wind. We present a new model which can naturally produce the observed fluctuations in the pickup ions.