HR: 1330h
AN: P43A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Charge-exchange x-rays from the heliospheric termination shock. An outside view.
AU: Medvedev, M V
EM: medvedev@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Malott Hall, 1251 Wescoe Hall Dr., Room 1082, Lawrence, KS 66045-7582 United States
AU: * Robertson, I P
EM: robertin@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Malott Hall, 1251 Wescoe Hall Dr., Room 1082, Lawrence, KS 66045-7582 United States
AU: Cravens, T E
EM: cravens@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Malott Hall, 1251 Wescoe Hall Dr., Room 1082, Lawrence, KS 66045-7582 United States
AU: Zank, G P
EM: gary.zank@ucr.edu
AF: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521 United States
AU: Florinski, V
EM: vflorins@ucr.edu
AF: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521 United States
AB: The outer heliosphere, and the termination shock in particular, produces X-ray emission. This emission is due to the charge exchange process between highly ionized minor ions of the solar wind interacting with neutral hydrogen atoms from our local interstellar medium. In this work, we combine high-resolution 2D magnetohydrodynamic simulations with an X-ray emission mechanism in order to produce two-dimensional X-ray brightness maps of the heliosphere as seen from the outside. The model is capable of tracing the full evolution of solar wind ion species along the solar wind stream lines, and thus correctly treats both the collisionally thin and collisionally thick regimes. X-ray emission from charge transfer should also occur in the astrospheres of other stars, so that this technique may ultimately be used to probe the properties of stellar winds of nearby stars.
DE: 7554 X rays, gamma rays, and neutrinos
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly