Open AccessStructure of the IBEX Ribbon from Distributed Sources
Author(s) -
N. A. Schwadron,
D. J. McComas
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1332/1/012013
Subject(s) - heliosphere , energetic neutral atom , ribbon , solar wind , charge exchange , physics , astrophysics , population , interstellar medium , charge (physics) , atom (system on chip) , plasma , astronomy , computational physics , ion , geometry , nuclear physics , mathematics , demography , quantum mechanics , sociology , galaxy , computer science , embedded system
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission discovered the presence of a global structure in energetic neutral atom emissions from the outer heliosphere not predicted by any model – the IBEX “ribbon”. In the search for possible explanations, observations have pointed to a likely source from neutral atoms produced through charge-exchange with the outflowing solar wind. The secondary (neutral) solar wind then undergoes charge-exchange beyond the heliopause to produce the proton population that forms the ribbon. Here we study the plasma structure beyond the heliopause created from distributed secondary neutral atom sources. We provide a framework to analyze the IBEX ribbon taking into account distributed neutral atom sources within the local interstellar medium.