HR: 1340h
AN: SH14A-1688 [Abstracts]
TI: The Interstellar Boundary Explorer Instrument Models and Predicted ENA Count Rates
AU: * Prested, C
EM: cprested@bu.edu
AF: Boston University, Department of Astronomy
725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215, United States
AU: Schwadron, N
EM: nathanas@bu.edu
AF: Boston University, Department of Astronomy
725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215, United States
AU: Passuite, J
EM: jamisonp@bu.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, Department of Space Science and Engineering
P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78248, United States
AU: Randol, B
EM: brandol@lonestar.utsa.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, Department of Space Science and Engineering
P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78248, United States
AU: Stuart, B
EM: bstuart@ifa.hawaii.edu
AF: University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy
2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States
AU: Heerikhuisen, J
EM: jacobh@ucr.edu
AF: University of California, Riverside, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Riverside,
CA 92521, United States
AU: Opher, M
EM: mopher@physics.gmu.edu
AF: George Mason University, Department of Physics and Astronomy
4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, United States
AU: Allegrini, F
EM: fallegrini@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, Department of Space Science and Engineering
P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78248, United States
AU: Steve, F
EM: fuselier@spasci.com
AF: Lockheed Martin, Space Physics Lab
3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304, United States
AU: Funsten, H
EM: hfunsten@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545, United States
AU: Moebius, E
EM: eberhard.moebius@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center and Department of Physics
39 College Road, Durham, NH 03824, United States
AB:
The upcoming launch of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) promises a unique data set of heliospheric
energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), rich with information about the global dynamics of the termination shock and
heliosheath. We have developed a suite of tools to predict synthetic ENA flux from the internal energy, density,
and bulk flow derived from
large-scale magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the heliosheath,
creating a visualization framework for ENA flux maps as well as making predictions for the IBEX mission. In the
future these tools will be critical for interpreting the implications of IBEX observations. The impact of the ion
distribution
function is also explored in the context of ENA flux maps. Studies from ACE, WIND, and Ulysses have shown the
solar wind ion population has a power law tail in suprathermal velocities between 2-10 times the solar wind
speed. This solar wind characteristic is found to increase the predicted flux by more than an order of magnitude
at the highest IBEX energies, with less but considerable impact at lower energies.
DE: 2124 Heliopause and solar wind termination
DE: 2126 Heliosphere/interstellar medium interactions
DE: 2151 Neutral particles (7837)
DE: 2194 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting