Solar wind heating beyond 1 AU

Abstract

The effect of an interplanetary atomic hydrogen gas on solar wind proton, electron and alpha-particle temperatures beyond 1 AU is considered. It is shown that the proton temperature (and probably also the alpha-particle temperature) reaches a minimum between 2 AU and 4 AU, depending on values chosen for solar wind and interstellar gas parameters. Heating of the electron gas depends primarily on the thermal coupling of the protons and electrons. For strong coupling, the electron temperature reaches a minimum between 4 AU and 8 AU, but for weak coupling (Coulomb collisions only), the electron temperature continues to decrease throughout the inner solar system. A spacecraft travelling to Jupiter should be able to observe the heating effect of the solar wind-interplanetary hydrogen interaction, and from such observations it may be possible of infer some properties of the interstellar neutral gas.