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Solar radiation pressure as a mechanism of acceleration of atoms and first ions with low ionization potentials

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Abstract

Calculated results are presented for solar radiation pressure acting on atoms and first ions. For some of these particles, radiation pressure exceeds the gravitational attraction and can accelerate them to large velocities. A comparison of the results with ionization potentials shows that the maxima of radiation pressure on neutral atoms coincide with the minima of the first ionization potentials (FIPs). This relationship is even more apparent for first ions. The minima of the second ionization potentials (SIPs) coincide with the radiation pressure maxima for a number of ions such as Be II, Mg II, Ca II, and the neighboring elements. Thus, radiation pressure may serve as a possible mechanism of acceleration of pickup ions and energetic neutral atoms (ENA) coming from an inner source (zodiacal dust and sungrazing comets). These atoms and ions, which are not typical of the solar wind, are formed as a result of the disintegration of comets or meteor showers near the Sun and can accelerate and reach the Earth’s orbit as part of the solar wind. Doubly ionized atoms have resonance lines in the UV range, where solar radiation pressure has no apparent impact on the particle dynamics; thus, the proposed acceleration mechanism can only be applied to neutral atoms and first ions with low potentials of the subsequent ionization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    L. I. Shestakova

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  1. L. I. Shestakova
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Correspondence to L. I. Shestakova.

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Original Russian Text © L.I. Shestakova, 2015, published in Astronomicheskii Vestnik, 2015, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 148–154.

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Shestakova, L.I. Solar radiation pressure as a mechanism of acceleration of atoms and first ions with low ionization potentials. Sol Syst Res 49, 139–145 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094615020057

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094615020057

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