loading page

The effect of plasma sheet ion composition on the production and evolution of cold H+ population from the hydrogen geocorona in the inner magnetosphere
  • +1
  • Jianghuai Liu,
  • Raluca Ilie,
  • Joseph E. Borovsky,
  • Michael W. Liemohn
Jianghuai Liu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Raluca Ilie
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Author Profile
Joseph E. Borovsky
Space Science Institute
Author Profile
Michael W. Liemohn
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Author Profile

Abstract

Both in situ measurements and numerical simulations show that the charge exchange collisions between energetic ring current ions (>10keV) and cold ambient neutral atoms of the upper atmosphere and exosphere (<1eV) can be a major loss process of the ring current ions. Owing to the high volume of energetic ion source injected from the ion plasma sheet during storm time under strong convection strength, there can be a significant rate of occurrence of charge exchange collision in the inner magnetosphere, therefore contributing a significant amount of inner magnetospheric cold proton populations. Due to the different charge exchange cross sections among different reactions, cold protons are generated at different rates from different energetic ion species. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative assessments on the production and evolution of charge-exchange byproduct cold protons are performed via numerical simulations, showing that the production and evolution of the cold H+ populations can be primarily driven by the plasma sheet conditions combined with the magnetospheric convection, while having the potential to affect the dynamics of the plasmasphere and facilitate the early-stage local plasmaspheric refilling. Furthermore, the energetic heavy ions composition plays an important role determining the cold H+ contribution structure from the energetic ring current ions.