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Heliospheric Ionization Rates Over Solar Cycle 24
  • Justyna M. Sokół
Justyna M. Sokół
NAWA Bekker Fellow

Corresponding Author:jsokol@helio.zone

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Abstract

Studying of solar ionizing environment for the interstellar plasma inside the heliosphere is an unavoidable aspect of the interpretation of the full solar cycle of IBEX observations. We present a recent revision of the observation-based model of the ionization rates inside the heliosphere discussed by Sokół et al. 2020 (ApJ 897:179). The solar wind (SW) and the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation affect fluxes of interstellar atoms inside the heliosphere both in time and in space. We present a Sun–Heliosphere Observation-based Ionization Rates (SHOIR) model based on the SW and EUV data available in solar cycle 24. We revised the in-ecliptic variation of the SW parameters, the latitudinal structure of the SW speed and density, and the photoionization rates. The revision most affects the SW out of the ecliptic plane during solar maximum and the estimate of the photoionization rates, the latter because of a change of the reference data. The changes are not constant and vary in time and in latitude. Our study shows that the polar SW is slower and denser during the solar maximum of solar cycle 24, and that the current estimates of the total ionization rates are higher than the previous ones for H, O, and Ne, and lower for He. The changes for the in-ecliptic total ionization rates are less than 10% for H and He, up to 20% for O, and up to 35% for Ne compared to the previous estimates.