Curved Trajectory Effect on Charge-Exchange Collision at Ionospheric
Temperatures
Abstract
Collision between ions and neutral particles is an essential
characteristic of Earth’s ionosphere. This ion-neutral collision is
usually caused by the polarization of neutral particles. This collision
can also be caused by charge exchange, if the particle pair is parental,
such as atomic oxygen and its ion. The total collision frequency is not
the sum of the polarization and charge-exchange components, but is
essentially equal to the dominant component. The total is enhanced only
around the classic transition temperature, which is near the ionospheric
temperature range (typically 200-2000 K). However, the magnitude of this
enhancement has differed among previous studies; the maximum enhancement
has been reported as 41% and 11% without physical explanation. In the
present study, the contribution of the polarization force to the
charge-exchange collision is expressed as a simple curved particle
trajectory effect. As a result, the maximum enhancement is found to be
22%. It is discussed that the enhancement has been neglected in classic
models partly due to confusion with the glancing particle contribution,
which adds 10.5% to the polarization component. The enhancement has
been neglected presumably also because there has been no functional form
to express it. Such an expression is derived in this study.