SH33A-4132:
Heavy Ion Heating at Shocks in the Heliosphere
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Kelly E Korreck, Smithsonian Observatory, Cambridge, MA, United States, Michael Louis Stevens, Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory, Cambridge, MA, United States, Susan T Lepri, Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States and Justin Christophe Kasper, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Abstract:
Ions heavier than protons can be used as tracers for heating mechamisms in solar wind plasma. Measurments by the ACE and WIND satellites provide information on the relative heating of the heavy ions versus the protons. Greater than mass proportional heating has been seen at coronal mass ejections (CME) shock fronts. Using ACE SWICS heavy ions data from CME associated shocks, heavy ion heating and the non-thermal nature of helium and oxygen distributions at 1AU is examined. The WIND SWE data set is used to examine the helium distributions at the shock fronts observed at the spacecraft. Understanding the heating and source of energetic particles and their evolution through the heliosphere is relevant to predicting space weather events and the evolution of the solar wind.
