Revealing the role of “hidden heavy ions” component in the terrestrial
polar wind outflow
Abstract
The roles of heavy ions have long been an important subject in the
magnetospheric physics since the first discovery of O+ ions in the
magnetosphere as it hinted to the connection between the ionospheric and
magnetospheric plasma. Albeit limited, several observations show the
importance of ionospheric N+ and molecular ions, including NO+, N2+ and
O2+, in the high-altitude ionosphere and magnetosphere. However, the
mechanisms responsible for accelerating the ionospheric heavy ions from
eV to keV energies are still largely unknown. Developed from the Polar
Wind Outflow Model (PWOM), the Seven Ion Polar Wind Outflow Model
(7iPWOM) solves the gyrotropic transport equations for all relevant
species (e-, H+, He+, N+, O+, N2+, NO+ and O2+) along open magnetic
field lines and therefore, has the capability to assess the role of
heavy ions in the supersonic ionospheric outflow. However, the
hydrodynamic approach is limited to the region where collisions are
important. For the altitudes above the collision-dominated region, the
hydrodynamic solution becomes increasingly inadequate. Thus, the 7iPWOM
applies a kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) approach that enables the
inclusion of wave-particle interactions (WPI) and Coulomb collisions.
The simulation results showed that the N+ ions play a key role in the
polar wind solution under all conditions. The mechanisms responsible for
the energization of outflowing N+ ions are different than those of O+,
not only in the collision-dominated region but also at high-altitudes.
This means that the local heating sources to O+ and N+ in the polar
wind, even in small amounts, can lead to plasma instability and could
possibly affect the large-scale transport properties. In addition, the
relative abundance of molecular ions, and how they change the polar wind
solution, reveals the link between lower thermosphere and the
ionosphere. Therefore, tracking the molecular ions helps understand how
the “fast ion outflow” acquires sufficient energy in such a short time
scale, compared with the dissociative recombination lifetime of the
molecular ions, and assess the role of molecular ions in the overall
dynamics of the polar wind outflow.