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Production of negative hydrogen ions within the MMS fast plasma investigation due to solar wind bombardment

Production of negative hydrogen ions within the MMS fast plasma investigation due to solar wind bombardment
Production of negative hydrogen ions within the MMS fast plasma investigation due to solar wind bombardment

The particle data delivered by the Fast Plasma Investigation instrument aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission allow for exceptionally high-resolution examination of the electron and ion phase space in the near-Earth plasma environment. It is necessary to identify populations which originate from instrumental effects. Using Fast Plasma Investigation's Dual Electron Spectrometers, we isolate a high-energy (approximately kiloelectron volt) beam, present while the spacecraft are in the solar wind, which exhibits an azimuthal drift with period associated with the spacecraft spin. We show that this population is consistent with negative hydrogen ions H generated by a double charge exchange interaction between the incident solar wind H+ ions and the metallic surfaces within the instrument. This interaction is likely to occur at the deflector plates close to the instrument aperture. The H density is shown to be approximately 0.2–0.4% of the solar wind ion density, and the energy of the negative ion population is shown to be 70% of the incident solar wind energy. These negative ions may introduce errors in electron velocity moments on the order of 0.2–0.4% of the solar wind velocity and significantly higher errors in the electron temperature.

charge exchange, instruments, MMS, negative ions, solar wind
2169-9380
6161-6170
Gingell, Imogen
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Schwartz, Steven J.
6e89ea4b-98a3-4a7d-900e-63dd9a64cd4c
Gershman, Daniel J.
00afda5d-e397-4629-b978-12058b1f7c72
Paterson, William R.
bd6a4e41-c1bd-44ab-9c2f-3672a1d895b1
Desai, Ravindra T.
bd553a86-17d0-4d76-a965-1935d185cc5b
Giles, Barbara L.
eceb7be2-b272-40cb-a9af-82687b2708fd
Pollock, Craig J.
eb29ec94-934c-4e9d-924f-440a03f20012
Avanov, Levon A.
b0ed2e9b-5e37-4ba2-9258-6f691940e21f
Gingell, Imogen
ba7b8113-3833-40d8-a879-aab3f987455d
Schwartz, Steven J.
6e89ea4b-98a3-4a7d-900e-63dd9a64cd4c
Gershman, Daniel J.
00afda5d-e397-4629-b978-12058b1f7c72
Paterson, William R.
bd6a4e41-c1bd-44ab-9c2f-3672a1d895b1
Desai, Ravindra T.
bd553a86-17d0-4d76-a965-1935d185cc5b
Giles, Barbara L.
eceb7be2-b272-40cb-a9af-82687b2708fd
Pollock, Craig J.
eb29ec94-934c-4e9d-924f-440a03f20012
Avanov, Levon A.
b0ed2e9b-5e37-4ba2-9258-6f691940e21f

Gingell, Imogen, Schwartz, Steven J., Gershman, Daniel J., Paterson, William R., Desai, Ravindra T., Giles, Barbara L., Pollock, Craig J. and Avanov, Levon A. (2018) Production of negative hydrogen ions within the MMS fast plasma investigation due to solar wind bombardment. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 123 (8), 6161-6170. (doi:10.1029/2018JA025341).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The particle data delivered by the Fast Plasma Investigation instrument aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission allow for exceptionally high-resolution examination of the electron and ion phase space in the near-Earth plasma environment. It is necessary to identify populations which originate from instrumental effects. Using Fast Plasma Investigation's Dual Electron Spectrometers, we isolate a high-energy (approximately kiloelectron volt) beam, present while the spacecraft are in the solar wind, which exhibits an azimuthal drift with period associated with the spacecraft spin. We show that this population is consistent with negative hydrogen ions H generated by a double charge exchange interaction between the incident solar wind H+ ions and the metallic surfaces within the instrument. This interaction is likely to occur at the deflector plates close to the instrument aperture. The H density is shown to be approximately 0.2–0.4% of the solar wind ion density, and the energy of the negative ion population is shown to be 70% of the incident solar wind energy. These negative ions may introduce errors in electron velocity moments on the order of 0.2–0.4% of the solar wind velocity and significantly higher errors in the electron temperature.

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Accepted/In Press date: 9 July 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 July 2018
Published date: 1 August 2018
Keywords: charge exchange, instruments, MMS, negative ions, solar wind

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 439027
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/439027
ISSN: 2169-9380
PURE UUID: 9cc5b723-5d58-403c-93df-61714db7137c
ORCID for Imogen Gingell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2218-1909

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Date deposited: 01 Apr 2020 16:32
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:55

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Contributors

Author: Imogen Gingell ORCID iD
Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Author: Daniel J. Gershman
Author: William R. Paterson
Author: Ravindra T. Desai
Author: Barbara L. Giles
Author: Craig J. Pollock
Author: Levon A. Avanov

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