Modeling of the heliospheric interface: multi-component nature of the heliospheric plasma

¹ Institute for Problems in Mechanics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
² Space Research Institute (IKI) Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
³ Lomonosov Moscow State University, Department of Aeromechanics, School of Mechanics and Mathematics & Institute of Mechanics, Moscow 119899, Russia e-mail: izmod@ipmnet.ru

Received: 17 June 2005
Accepted: 29 August 2005

Abstract

We present a new model of the heliospheric interface – the region of the solar wind interaction with the local interstellar medium. This new model performs a multi-component treatment of charged particles in the heliosphere. All charged particles are divided into several co-moving types. The coldest type, with parameters typical of original solar wind protons, is considered in the framework of fluid approximation. The hot pickup proton components created from interstellar H atoms and heliospheric ENAs by charge exchange, electron impact ionization and photoionization are treated kinetically. The charged components are considered self-consistently with interstellar H atoms, which are described kinetically as well. To solve the kinetic equation for H atoms we use the Monte Carlo method with splitting of trajectories, which allows us 1) to reduce statistical uncertainties allowing correct interpretation of observational data; 2) to separate all H atoms in the heliosphere into several populations depending on the place of their birth and on the type of parent protons.