Characteristics of Outer Heliospheric Interplanetary Shocks and Ion Acceleration
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摘要: 进入太阳系的星际中性原子与太阳风带电离子发生电荷交换,产生具有填充球壳状速度分布的星际拾起离子(Pickup ions,PUI)。新视野号实测数据表明,随日心距增大PUI数目逐渐增多。研究其在行星际激波处的加速,对理解外日球层太阳风与星际物质相互作用具有重要作用。本文利用二维混合模拟对外日球层行星际准垂直激波进行参量研究,结果表明:在较强背景湍动下,低阿尔芬马赫数激波(MA <3)仍可加速部分PUI,并通过扩散激波加速(Diffusive Shock Acceleration,DSA)形成幂律高能尾;在相同湍动强度条件下,离子加速能量随马赫数增大而增加;PUI更易被激波加速并主导下游高能段能谱。对新视野号观测事件的分析发现,部分外日球层低马赫数激波可产生幂律高能尾,与模拟较为一致。此外,部分事件中,太阳风α 粒子或与中性氢电荷交换,从而增强He⁺在PUI截止能段附近的贡献;另有事件在激波上下游均出现中能段(约2.5 – 4 keV)幂律谱,但因新视野号缺乏磁场测量,这一现象仍有待进一步研究。综上,本研究结合模拟和观测,定性揭示了外日球层影响离子加速的参量,为进一步理解日球层终止激波下游异常宇宙线(Anomalous Cosmic Rays,ACRs)的起源提供了理论基础。Abstract: Interstellar neutral atoms entering the heliosphere undergo charge exchange with solar wind ions, producing interstellar pickup ions (PUI) characterized by a filled-shell velocity distribution. Observations from New Horizons indicate that the number density of PUIs gradually increases with heliocentric distance. Studying their acceleration at interplanetary shocks is crucial for understanding the interaction between the outer heliospheric solar wind and the local interstellar medium. In this study, a two-dimensional hybrid simulation is employed to investigate the parameter dependence of quasi-perpendicular interplanetary shocks in the outer heliosphere. The results show that under strong background turbulence, low Alfvén Mach number shocks (MA < 3) can still accelerate a portion of PUIs and form a power-law suprathermal tail through diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). Under the same turbulence intensity, the ion acceleration energy increases with Mach number, and PUIs are more efficiently accelerated by shocks, dominating the high-energy portion of the downstream spectra. Analysis of New Horizons observations reveals that some low-Mach-number shocks in the outer heliosphere can indeed produce power-law suprathermal tails consistent with the simulation results. In certain events, solar wind alpha particles may undergo charge exchange with interstellar hydrogen, enhancing the contribution of He⁺ near the PUI cutoff energy. Other events exhibit a power-law spectrum in the intermediate-energy range (~2.5–4 keV) on both sides of the shock, though the lack of in-situ magnetic-field measurements on New Horizons leaves this phenomenon open to further investigation. Overall, by combining numerical simulations and observations, this study qualitatively identifies the key parameters controlling ion acceleration in the outer heliosphere and provides theoretical insights into the origin of anomalous cosmic rays (ACRs) downstream of the heliospheric termination shock.
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Key words:
- Pickup ions /
- Interplanetary shocks /
- Outer heliosphere /
- Turbulence /
- Ion acceleration
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