Temporal Variations of Charge-Exchange induced Heliospheric X-rays: Constraints on the Local Interstellar X-ray Background

Rosine Lallement (1) , Dimitra Koutroumpa (1) , F. Acero (2) , J. Ballet (3) , V. Kharchenko (4) , A. Dalgarno (4) , R. Pepino (4)

1 SA - Service d'aéronomie
2 CEA - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives
3 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
4 CfA - Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

We study the EUV/soft X-ray emission generated by charge transfer between solar wind heavy ions and interstellar H and He neutral atoms in the inner Heliosphere. We present heliospheric maps for stationary solar wind, depending on solar cycle phase, solar wind anisotropies and composition, line of sight direction and observer position. A series of time-dependant simulations of the X-ray intensities variations due to temporary solar wind enhancements are compared with XMM Newton recorded spectra at different intervals in the period 2000-2003. Results show that the heliospheric component can explain a large fraction of (if not all) the line intensity below 1.3 keV, strongly attenuating the need for soft X-ray emission from the Local Interstellar Bubble.

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Planète et Univers [physics]

Rosine Lallement, Dimitra Koutroumpa, F. Acero, J. Ballet, V. Kharchenko, et al.. Temporal Variations of Charge-Exchange induced Heliospheric X-rays: Constraints on the Local Interstellar X-ray Background. American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #9, Oct 2006, San Francisco, United States. ⟨hal-02330922⟩