Suprathermal ions in the solar wind from the Voyager spacecraft: Instrument modeling and background analysis

[摘要] Using publicly available data from the Voyager Low Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instruments, we investigate the form of the solar wind ion suprathermal tail in the outer heliosphere inside the termination shock. This tail has a commonly observed form in the inner heliosphere, that is, a power law with a particular spectral index. The Voyager spacecraft have taken data beyond 100 AU, farther than any other spacecraft. However, during extended periods of time, the data appears to be mostly background. We have developed a technique to self-consistently estimate the background seen by LECP due to cosmic rays using data from the Voyager cosmic ray instruments and a simple, semi-analytical model of the LECP instruments.

[发布机构] NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt; MD; 20771, United States^1

[效力级别] 天文学 [学科分类] 天文学(综合)

[关键词] Background analysis;Cosmic ray instruments;Instrument Modeling;Outer heliosphere;Semi-analytical model;Suprathermal tail;Termination shocks;Voyager spacecraft