University of Kansas X-Ray Emission in the Solar System

Image: Jovian soft X-rays from ROSAT; courtesy of J. H. Waite.

Implications of Solar Wind Composition for Cometary X-Rays

N. A. Schwadron and T. E. Cravens, Astrophysical Journal, 544, 558, 2000.

Abstract with link to full article on the Astrophysical Journal website.

Abstract. Solar wind composition provides a strong source of variability for cometary x-rays. Using recently constrained composition observations from the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer on the Ulysses spacecraft (SWICS/Ulysses) and information on ion-neutral charge-transfer collisions, we model cometary x-ray emission and its variability. Fast and slow solar wind cases are adopted and compared to observations of x-ray spectra from the Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) for comet Levy. The predicted and observed spectra compare most favorably for fast solar wind in optically thin conditions. Solar wind composition can be predicted as a function of the coronal temperature near its source and, consequently, cometary x-ray spectra may be predicted as a function of the solar wind's coronal temperature. Implications and additional developments necessary to unravel the compositional information contained in x-ray spectra are explored.

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Last modified Sept. 13, 2006 Tizby Hunt-Ward tizby@ku.edu