Effects of interstellar and solar wind ionized helium on the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium

The Sun is moving through a warm ($\sim$6500 K) and partly ionized local interstellar cloud (LIC) with a velocity of $\sim$26 km/s. Recent measurements of the ionization of the LIC (Wolff et al., 1999) suggest that interstellar helium in the vicinity of the Sun is 30-40 % ionized, while interstellar hydrogen is less ionized. Consequently, interstellar helium ions contribute up to 50% of the total dynamic pressure of the ionized interstellar component. Up to now interstellar helium ions have been ignored in existing models of the heliospheric interface. In this paper we present results of a new model of the solar wind interaction with the interstellar medium, which takes into account interstellar helium ions. Using results of this model we find that the heliopause, termination and bow shocks are closer to the Sun when compared to the model results that ignore $He$ ions. The influence of interstellar helium ions is partially compensated by solar wind alpha particles, which are taken into account in our new model as well. Finally, we apply our new model to place constraints on the plausible location of the termination shock.Comment: accepted for publication in Astrophys. J. Letter

Lyman-alpha Absorption from Heliosheath Neutrals

We assess what information HST observations of stellar Ly-alpha lines can provide on the heliosheath, the region of the heliosphere between the termination shock and heliopause. To search for evidence of heliosheath absorption, we conduct a systematic inspection of stellar Ly-alpha lines reconstructed after correcting for ISM absorption (and heliospheric/astrospheric absorption, if present). Most of the stellar lines are well centered on the stellar radial velocity, as expected, but the three lines of sight with the most downwind orientations relative to the ISM flow (Chi1 Ori, HD 28205, and HD 28568) have significantly blueshifted Ly-alpha lines. Since it is in downwind directions where heliosheath absorption should be strongest, the blueshifts are almost certainly caused by previously undetected heliosheath absorption. We make an initial comparison between the heliosheath absorption and the predictions of a pair of heliospheric models. A model with a complex multi-component treatment of plasma within the heliosphere predicts less absorption than a model with a simple single-fluid treatment, which leads to better agreement with the data. Finally, we find that nonplanetary energetic neutral atom (ENA) fluxes measured by the ASPERA-3 instrument on board Mars Express, which have been interpreted as being from the heliosheath, are probably too high to be consistent with the relative lack of heliosheath absorption seen by HST. This would argue for a local interplanetary source for these ENAs instead of a heliosheath source.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, AASTEX v5.0, accepted by Ap