Evidence for Solar-Wind Charge-Exchange X-Ray Emission from the Earth's Magnetosheath

dc.creatorFujimoto, Ryuichi
dc.creatorMitsuda, Kazuhisa
dc.creatorMcCammon, Dan
dc.creatorTakei, Yoh
dc.creatorBauer, Michael
dc.creatorIshisaki, Yoshitaka
dc.creatorPorter, F. Scott
dc.creatorYamaguchi, Hiroya
dc.creatorHayashida, Kiyoshi
dc.creatorYamasaki, Noriko Y.
dc.date2006-09-12
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:42:36Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:42:36Z
dc.descriptionWe report an apparent detection of the C VI 4p to 1s transition line at 459 eV, during a long-term enhancement (LTE) in the Suzaku north ecliptic pole (NEP) observation of 2005 September 2. The observed intensity of the line is comparable to that of the C VI 2p to 1s line at 367 eV. This is strong evidence for the charge-exchange process. In addition to the C VI lines, emission lines from O VII, O VIII, Ne X, and Mg XI lines showed clear enhancements. There are also features in the 750 to 900 eV range that could be due to some combination of Fe XVII and XVIII L-lines, higher order transitions of O VIII (3p to 1s and 6p to 1s), and a Ne IX line. From the correlation of the X-ray intensity with solar-wind flux on time scales of about half a day, and from the short-term (~10 minutes) variations of the X-ray intensity, these lines most likely arise from solar-wind heavy ions interacting with neutral material in the Earth's magnetosheath. A hard power-law component is also necessary to explain the LTE spectrum. The origin of this component is not yet known. Our results indicate that solar activity can significantly contaminate Suzaku cosmic X-ray spectra below ~1 keV. Recommendations are provided for recognizing such contamination in observations of extended sources.
dc.description8 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609308
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609308
dc.identifierProg.Theor.Phys.Suppl.169:71-74,2007
dc.identifierdoi:10.1143/PTPS.169.71
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/200940
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleEvidence for Solar-Wind Charge-Exchange X-Ray Emission from the Earth's Magnetosheath
dc.typetext

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