Geocoronal Solar Wind Charge Exchange Process Associated With the 2006‐December‐13 Coronal Mass Ejection Event

Abstract

AbstractWe report the discovery of a geocoronal solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) event corresponding to the well‐known 2006 December 13th coronal mass ejection (CME) event. Strong evidence for the charge exchange origin of this transient diffuse emission is provided by prominent non‐thermal emission lines at energies of O7+, Ne9+, Mg11+, Si12+, Si13+. Especially, a 0.53 keV emission line that most likely arises from the N5+ 1s15p1 → 1s2 transition is detected. Previously, the forecastability of SWCX occurrence with proton flares has been disputed. In this particular event, we found that the SWCX signal coincided with the arrival of the magnetic cloud inside CME, triggered with a time delay after the proton flux fluctuation as the CME shock front passed through the Earth. Moreover, a spacecraft orbital modulation in SWCX light curve suggests that the emission arises close to the Earth. The line of sight was found to always pass through the northern magnetospheric cusp. The SWCX intensity was high when the line of sight passed the dusk side of the cusp, suggesting an azimuthal anisotropy in the flow of solar‐wind ions inside the cusp. An axisymmetric SWCX emission model is found to underestimate the observed peak intensity by a factor of about 50. We suggest this discrepancy is related to the azimuthal anisotropy of the solar‐wind flow in the cusp.