2024/02/12 by I. Kowalska, M. A. Kubiak, Kowalska-Leszczynska, Izabela +5
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar Radiation and Photovoltaics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Space Physics (physics.space-ph) #solar cell performance optimization
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2402.08043
openalex publication_date 2024/02/12 · openalex created_date 2024/02/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Direct observations of solar wind are mostly limited to the vicinity of the ecliptic plane. Retrieving the latitudinal structure of solar wind indirectly based on observations of the backscatter glow of interstellar neutral hydrogen is complex and requires support from theoretical models. The GLOWS instrument, to operate on the planned IMAP mission, will scan the helioglow along circumsolar rings with an angular distance of ~75 degrees. Its objective is to retrieve the latitudinal structure of the ionization rate of interstellar hydrogen and with this, the structure of the solar wind. In preparation for future analysis, we studied the sensitivity of the light curves to temporal and latitudinal variation of the ionization rate of interstellar hydrogen and the solar Lyman-alpha illumination. Based on carefully planned numerical experiments, we analyze the time delay and relaxation time of the system for variations of the ionization rate and solar illumination in heliolatitude and with time. We found that variations in the solar illumination are reflected in the helioglow without delay, but relaxation takes longer than the variation rise time. By contrast, variations in the ionization rate are anti-correlated with the helioglow brightness with a delay of several months. We also found that the helioglow is not sensitive to variations in the ionization rate at the solar poles, so retrieving the ionization rate and solar wind at the poles requires an approximation of the ionization rate profiles with appropriate parametric functions.