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Review of the critical ionization velocity effect in space
Author(s) -
Newell Patrick T.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg023i001p00093
Subject(s) - ionization , plasma , critical ionization velocity , physics , magnetic field , space (punctuation) , perpendicular , atomic physics , astrophysical plasma , computational physics , ion , mechanics , nuclear physics , geometry , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Laboratory experiments have shown under a variety of conditions that when a neutral gas passes through a magnetized plasma with a relative velocity perpendicular to the magnetic field that is greater than a critical velocity, anomalously high ionization of the neutrals occurs. The conditions under which the same effect is to be expected in space plasmas is still unclear. The experimental evidence for the occurrence of the critical ionization velocity effect in space is summarized, and various areas in which it has been proposed that the effect should be significant are discussed.