PT Unknown
AU Drews, C
TI Interstellar Pickup Ions at 1 AU with STEREO/PLASTIC
PY 2013
PU Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
WP https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/diss_mods_00011974
LA en
DE Pickup Ion
AB In this thesis, interstellar pickup ions at 1 astronomical unit are analysed with the PLAsma
and SupraThermal Ion Composition instrument (PLASTIC) on board the Solar Terrestrial
Relations Observatory (STEREO). Interstellar pickup ions originate from the neutral
component of the Local InterStellar Medium (LISM), which enters the heliosphere with
a velocity of  25 km/s as a result of its relative motion with respect to our Sun. This
neutral wind is gradually ionized by charge exchange with the solar wind, by solar ultraviolet
radiation, or more rarely, by electron impact and thus acts as the seed population
for interstellar pickup ions. The freshly created ions are 'picked up' by the interplanetary
magnetic eld that is frozen into the solar wind and rapidly acquire speeds equaling the
solar wind speed in a solar wind frame of reference. More importantly, these pickup ions
carry information on the LISM and provide an excellent opportunity to study the LISM
in-situ.
PI Kiel
ER