Charge State Calculation for Global Solar Wind Modeling

Abstract

Abstract The charge state composition of the solar wind carries information about the electron temperature, density, and velocity of plasma in the solar corona that cannot always be measured with remote sensing techniques, due to limitations in instrumental sensitivity and field of view as well as line-of-sight integration issues. However, in situ measurements of the wind charge state distribution only provide the end result of the solar wind evolution from the source region to the freeze-in point. By using 3D global modeling it is possible to follow solar wind plasma parcels of different origin along the path of their journey and study the evolution of their charge states as well as the driving physical processes. For this purpose, we implemented nonequilibrium ionization calculations within the Space Weather Modeling Framework’s solar corona and inner heliosphere modules, to the Alfvén Wave Solar Model (AWSoM). The charge state calculations are carried out parallel to the AWSoM calculations, including all the elements and ions whose ionization-recombination rates are included in the CHIANTI database, namely, from H to Zn. In this work, we describe the implementation of the charge state calculation, and compare simulation results to in situ measurements from the Advanced Composition Explorer and Ulysses spacecraft, and study charge state evolution of plasma parcels along different wind trajectories and wind types.