Open AccessOn the distribution function of H Atoms in the problem of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium
Author(s) -
Baranov Vladimir B.,
Izmodenov Vlad V.,
Malama Yury G.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/97ja03662
Subject(s) - physics , solar wind , kinetic energy , distribution function , energetic neutral atom , plasma , interstellar medium , heliosphere , hydrogen atom , electron , atomic physics , rotational symmetry , solar system , computational physics , classical mechanics , astrophysics , mechanics , quantum mechanics , galaxy , group (periodic table)
This paper is devoted to the analysis of the models of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium (LISM) self‐consistently taking into account mutual influence of plasma (electrons and protons) and neutral (H atoms) components of the LISM. The axisymmetric interaction model of Baranov and Malama [1993], that used the kinetic description of H atoms motion together with the hydrodynamic approximation for the plasma component, showed that the distribution functions of the all H atom populations are essentially not Maxwellian. The hydrodynamic model by Zank et al. [1996] is based on the Maxwellian distribution functions of the LISM and solar wind hydrogen atoms. The comparisons of the results obtained on the basis of the kinetic model by Baranov and Malama [1993] and multifluid model by Zank et al. [1996] show that the distributions of H atom parameters have large quantitative as well as qualitative distinctions. A number of theoretical predictions and relevant, experimental data are analyzed.