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Helium Abundance Variations in Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections

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Abstract

Based on the OMNI2 database for the period from 1976 to 2019, the behavior of the relative abundance of helium ions Nα/Np is investigated inside interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). It is shown that the previously discovered anticorrelation between Nα/Np and the parameter β inside ICMEs is due to the dependence on magnetic pressure (or the magnitude of the interplanetary magnetic field), while the dependence of Nα/Np on the magnitude of the thermal pressure weakly falling in a magnetic cloud and increases in EJECTA. The data obtained are consistent with the previously suggested hypothesis that an electric current enriched with helium ions flows inside an ICME [1–3].

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the developers of the OMNI database (http://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov) for the opportunity to use it in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Khokhlachev, Yu. I. Yermolaev, I. G. Lodkina, M. O. Riazantseva & L. S. Rakhmanova

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  1. A. A. Khokhlachev
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  2. Yu. I. Yermolaev
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  3. I. G. Lodkina
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  4. M. O. Riazantseva
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  5. L. S. Rakhmanova
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Correspondence to A. A. Khokhlachev.

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Khokhlachev, A.A., Yermolaev, Y.I., Lodkina, I.G. et al. Helium Abundance Variations in Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections. Cosmic Res 60, 67–72 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952522020046

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952522020046

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