Double ionization of atomic oxygen by electron impact

Laboratory measurements of the cross-sections for double ionization of atomic oxygen by electrons are presented for energies from threshold to ～ 400 eV. A maximum cross-section of about 5.6 × 10^?18 cm² is observed at an electron energy of approx. 200 eV. Absolute cross-sections are obtained from measurements of the ratio of the cross-sections for double and single ionization, coupled with absolute cross-sections for single ionization previously measured by other investigators. The possible effects of excited oxygen reactants are examined, and the reported cross-sections are considered to be characteristic of ground state oxygen atoms.     

The ionization of atomic oxygen by electron impact

The single and double ionization of atomic oxygen by electron impact has been studied, and the energy dependence of the specific ionization cross-section, σ(O⁺) and σ(O²⁺), has been measured from 40 to 300 eV using a high-density atomic oxygen source not contaminated by metastable O(¹D) or O(¹S) atoms.     

Model of photoelectron impact ionization within the high latitude ionosphere at Mars: Comparison of calculated and measured electron density

The production rate, ion density and electron density are calculated between longitudes 0° and 360° E due to incident radiation of wavelength range 1-102.57 nm in the dayside atmosphere of Mars. These calculations are made by using global analytical yield spectrum (AYS) model at solar zenith angle 80° between latitudes 50° and 70° N for spring equinox and medium solar activity condition. These conditions are appropriate for Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Phase 2 aerobraking period during which both the accelerometer and the radio occultation data are used. The calculated results are compared with MGS radio occultation measurements carried out at different latitudes (64.7°-67.3° N) and longitudes (0°-360° E) in December 1998 between solar zenith angle 78° and 81°. This measurement shows primary and secondary ionization peaks, which are varying with longitudes. Our calculation suggests that first peak is produced by photoionization and photoelectron impact ionization processes due to absorption of solar EUV radiation (9-102.57 nm). The second peak is produced by photoelectron impact ionization of soft X-ray photon (1-9 nm). There is a good agreement between our calculation and measurement as far as the maximum and the minimum values of primary peak altitude/peak density of electrons are concerned. However, the calculated values of secondary peak density and peak altitude are higher than the measured values by a factor of 1.5-2.0 and 1.1, respectively. The secondary peak is brought into agreement with the measurement using low X-ray flux by a factor of 2 to 3 below 9 nm. The longitudinal distribution of calculated and measured peak density and peak altitude are fitted by least-square method with 0.95 confidence limits.     

Dissociative excitation of SO2 by controlled electron impact

The fragmentation of SO₂ following dissociative electron impact excitation has been studied under single collision conditions for incident electron energies up to 500 eV. The emission spectrum in the far v.u.v. spectral range (450–1100Å) shows many features arising from excited neutral oxygen and ionized oxygen and sulphur fragments. Absolute emission cross sections have been measured for the most intense lines and the maximum values were found to range from 1–12 × 10^?19 cm² with an uncertainty of approx. ± 35%. Dissociation mechanisms are discussed and in some cases the dissociation path could be uniquely identified. The striking differences between the v.u.v. emission spectrum produced by single step dissociation of SO₂ and the spectra emitted by the plasma torus around Jupiter are discussed.     

Production of vibrationally excited N2 by electron impact

Energy transfer from electrons to neutral gases and ions is one of the dominant electron cooling processes in the ionosphere, and the role of vibrationally excited N₂ in this is particularly significant. We report here the results from a new calculation of electron energy transfer rates (Q) for vibrational excitation of N₂, as a function of the electron temperature T_e. The present study was motivated by the development of a new cross-section compilation for vibrational excitation processes in N₂ which supercedes those used in the earlier calculations of the electron energy transfer rates. We show that the energy dependence and magnitude of these cross sections, particularly in the region of the well-known resonance in N₂, significantly affect the calculated values of Q. A detailed comparison between the current and previous calculated electron energy transfer rates is made and coefficients are provided so that these rates for transitions from level 0 to levels 1-10 can be calculated for electron temperatures less than .     

On the dissociation of nitrogen by electron impact and by E.U.V. photo-absorption

The dissociation of N₂ by electron impact and by e.u.v. photo-absorption is studied, and it is shown that the forbidden predissociation of the numerous ¹Π_u and ¹Σ_u⁺ valence and Rydberg states of N₂ in the 11–24eV energy range is the dominant mechanism for N atom production. By measuring the absolute emission cross sections for the e.u.v. singlet bands of N₂ and by using the generalized oscillator strength data of Lassettre (1974), it has been possible to construct a detailed model of the total N₂ dissociation cross section which is in good agreement with the measurements of Winters (1966) and Niehaus (1967) and provides some insights into the maximum possible $\text{N(}{}^2\text{D)}$ yield from dissociative excitation. The total cross section for exciting N₂ e.u.v. radiation in the 800Å–1100Å wavelength range has been measured and found to have a value of 3.4 ×10^?17 cm² at 100 eV under optically thin conditions. Although this result implies that large fluxes of e.u.v. photons should be excited in auroral substorms and in the airglow, they are not observed, and we show that this development is a consequence of radiation entrapment and predissociation. The total cross section for dissociating N₂ by electron impact is given for optically thin and thick media. And some questions concerning the energy budget of a magnetospheric storm which are raised by these results, are discussed.     

Dust transport near electron beam impact and shadow boundaries

When the moon enters the plasma sheet of the earth, high energy electron fluxes are incident upon the lunar surface. Some regions are in the shadow of these fluxes due to topographic features. Large electric fields were found at similar shadow boundaries created by the electron beams incident upon an obstacle in the laboratory. Potentials on the beam-illuminated surface follow beam energies and were negative relative to potentials on the shadowed surface. Charged dust particles in the beam-illuminated region were observed to move into the shadow due to these electric fields. The oblique incidence of the electron fluxes upon craters can lead to a portion of the crater surface in the beam-illumination and another portion in the shadow. Dust particles on the slopes of the craters can thus experience large electric fields and transport downhill to fill the bottom of the craters. This mechanism may contribute to the formation of dust ponds observed by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft at Eros, and might be at work on the lunar surface as well. In the laboratory, we used electron fluxes with energies up to 90 eV to bombard an insulating half-pipe. An angle of incidence was chosen so that the impact occurred on farside of the slope and left the bottom and the nearside slope in the shadow. Dust particles on the beam-illuminated slope moved down along the surface toward the bottom of the half-pipe and hopped to the bottom as well, while particles on the shadowed slope remained at rest.     

Investigation of iron sulfide impact crater residues: A combined analysis by scanning and transmission electron microscopy

Abstract– Samples returned from comet 81P/Wild 2 by the Stardust mission provided an unequaled opportunity to compare previously available extraterrestrial samples against those from a known comet. Iron sulfides are a major constituent of cometary grains commonly identified within cometary interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and Wild 2 samples. Chemical analyses indicate Wild 2 sulfides are fundamentally different from those in IDPs. However, as Wild 2 dust was collected via impact into capture media at approximately 6.1 km s^?1, it is unclear whether this is due to variation in preaccretional/parent body processes experienced by these materials or due to heating and alteration during collection. We investigated alteration in pyrrhotite and pentlandite impacted into Stardust flight spare Al foils under encounter conditions by comparing scanning and transmission electron microscope (SEM, TEM) analyses of preimpact and postimpact samples and calculating estimates of various impact parameters. SEM is the primary method of analysis during initial in situ examination of Stardust foils, and therefore, we also sought to evaluate the data obtained by SEM using insights provided by TEM. We find iron sulfides experience heating, melting, separation, and loss of S, and mixing with molten Al. These results are consistent with estimated peak pressures and temperatures experienced (approximately 85 GPa, approximately 2600 K) and relative melting temperatures. Unambiguous identification of preserved iron sulfides may be possible by TEM through the location of Al‐free regions. In most cases, the Ni:Fe ratio is preserved in both SEM and TEM analyses and may therefore also be used to predict original chemistry and estimate mineralogy.     

General model of depolarization and transfer of polarization of singly ionized atoms by collisions with hydrogen atoms

Simulations of the generation of the atomic polarization is necessary for interpreting the second solar spectrum. For this purpose, it is important to rigorously determine the effects of the isotropic collisions with neutral hydrogen on the atomic polarization of the neutral atoms, ionized atoms and molecules. Our aim is to treat in generality the problem of depolarizing isotropic collisions between singly ionized atoms and neutral hydrogen in its ground state. Using our numerical code, we computed the collisional depolarization rates of the p-levels of ions for large number of values of the effective principal quantum number n^* and the Unsöld energy E_p. Then, genetic programming has been utilized to fit the available depolarization rates. As a result, strongly non-linear relationships between the collisional depolarization rates, n^* and E_p are obtained, and are shown to reproduce the original data with accuracy clearly better than 10%. These relationships allow quick calculations of the depolarizing collisional rates of any simple ion which is very useful for the solar physics community. In addition, the depolarization rates associated to the complex ions and to the hyperfine levels can be easily derived from our results. In this work we have shown that by using powerful numerical approach and our collisional method, general model giving the depolarization of the ions can be obtained to be exploited for solar applications.     

Acceleration of isolated atoms by radiation pressure

If isolated atoms are accelerated by a point source of radiation with a power law spectrum and an intensity sufficiently large that radiation pressure dominates other forces, and if both acceleration and photoionization of the ions are considered, the resulting spectrum of escape velocities is independent of the intensity of the radiation, depending only on the power law index. For power-law indices typical of astrophysical objects, relativistic velocities are not possible.     

Laboratory measurement on impact ionization by neutrals and floating potential of a spacecraft during encounter with Halley's Comet

A spacecraft penetrating into the dense cloud of ambient gas and dust particles in the coma of Halley's Comet, is exposed to a bombardment by these particles having a high kinetic energy due to the large velocity of the spacecraft relative to the cometary coma. The interaction of the spacecraft and cometary neutral particles was simulated by using neutral beams of different species directed towards various target materials such as aluminium, gold and the white conductive paint PCB-Z. The kinetic energy of the primary beam covered, depending on the species, the range from about 700 eV up to more than 3 keV and contained, except for H₂O, the expected specific ram energy of $\text{24}\text{eV}\text{amu}$. The highest achievable density corresponded to a distance of slightly less than 10⁴ km off the nucleus. Upon impact on the surface of the target, emission of charged as well as neutral secondary particles was initiated. The yields of the charged particles were derived from measurements of the electrical current produced by secondary ions or electrons. The obtained results for the yields complement other measurements performed in parallel to this work. The derived floating potentials show somewhat lower voltages than obtained by model calculations. It was found that for the metallic targets, the acquired charging potential due to neutral gas impact lies between 4 and 6 V. In the case of PCB-Z, the averaged floating potential amounts to about 14 V.     

The ionization balance of the Fe in the solar corona for a non-Maxwellian electron distribution function

The ionization equilibrium of the Fe in the solar corona for a non-Maxwellian electron distribution with an enhanced number of particles in the high-energy tail is presented. A parametric form of the distribution function is used to demonstrate the changes in the ionization equilibrium with changes in the shape of the distribution. The results over the range of temperature 10⁵ K T 10⁸ K for different deviations of the distribution from a Maxwellian are given in tabular form. The results can be used for specific applications in the solar corona, especially in the active corona, where deviations from the Maxwellian distribution can be significant.     

A simple problem of radiative transfer by multilevel atoms

We consider the problem of determining the radiation fields reflected and transmitted by a slab containing multilevel hydrogen atoms and illuminated on one side by a given radiation field. We treat the extreme non-LTE situation in which the populations of the different levels are determined by the radiative processes. We take into account the population and the transfer effects in a self-consistent way by solving the transfer equations in all the lines and continua together with the equations of statistical equilibrium for all levels. We limit ourselves to the idealistic case of rectangular profiles in the lines and continua and to a model of atoms with 4 levels and a continuum. Under conditions close to thermodynamic equilibrium we empirically derive a Schuster-like law for the continua with transmitted radiation fields varying as the inverse of the optical thickness. Turning to out-of-equilibrium conditions we emphasize the crucial role of the loss probability of the Ly photons. Owing to the rapid decrease of the excitation/ionization degree in the medium and contrary to the conservative case the optical thicknesses of the subordinate transitions now remain finite even when the population of the fundamental level along the line-of-sight becomes infinite. As a result of this relative transparency the strong emission lines formed by recombination mechanisms can escape from the medium. Although the present problem remains largely academic because of the number of simplifications introduced we suggest some possible applications and developments.Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 313–338, April–June, 1994.     

On the simultaneous ionization-excitation of the OII(λ834 Å) resonance transition by electron impact on atomic oxygen

Laboratory cross-section data on the excitation of the OII(2s 2p⁴⁴P → 2s² 2p³⁴S; λ834 Å) resonance transition and on the production of O⁺ and O²⁺ ions by electron impact on atomic oxygen are used to show that the ratio $\text{σ(λ834}\text{A}\text{?}\text{)}\text{σ(O}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+ O}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{)}$ is nearly constant for incident electron energies > 50 eV. Under auroral conditions, the total electron-ion pair production rate from electron impact on O can be inferred from λ834 Å volume emission rate measurements using the result that $\text{η(O}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+ O}{}^{\mathrm{2+}}\text{)}\text{\$}\text{?}\text{8.4η(λ834}\text{A}\text{?}\text{)}$. These findings, along with earlier work on the simultaneous ionization-excitation of the 1 Neg (0,0) band of N₂⁺ and the 1 Neg (1, 0) band of O⁺₂, allow the specific ionization rates for the principal atmospheric constituents (O⁺, O⁺₂, N⁺₂), for the multiply-ionized species (O²⁺, O²⁺₂, N²⁺₂), and for the dissociatively produced atomic ions to be inferred in aurora from remote satellite observations.     

Analytical scanning and transmission electron microscopy of laboratory impacts on Stardust aluminum foils: Interpreting impact crater morphology and the composition of impact residues

Abstract— The known encounter velocity (6.1 kms^?1) and particle incidence angle (perpendicular) between the Stardust spacecraft and the dust emanating from the nucleus of comet Wild‐2 fall within a range that allows simulation in laboratory light‐gas gun (LGG) experiments designed to validate analytical methods for the interpretation of dust impacts on the aluminum foil components of the Stardust collector. Buckshot of a wide size, shape, and density range of mineral, glass, polymer, and metal grains, have been fired to impact perpendicularly on samples of Stardust Al 1100 foil, tightly wrapped onto aluminum alloy plate as an analogue of foil on the spacecraft collector. We have not yet been able to produce laboratory impacts by projectiles with weak and porous aggregate structure, as may occur in some cometary dust grains. In this report we present information on crater gross morphology and its dependence on particle size and density, the pre‐existing major‐ and trace‐element composition of the foil, geometrical issues for energy dispersive X‐ray analysis of the impact residues in scanning electron microscopes, and the modification of dust chemical composition during creation of impact craters as revealed by analytical transmission electron microscopy. Together, these observations help to underpin the interpretation of size, density, and composition for particles impacted on the Stardust aluminum foils.     

Quenching of auroral hydrogen line emission by collisional ionization

With the aid of the classical impulse approximation a simple formula is derived for the cross section for electron loss from fast excited hydrogen atoms passing through a neutral gas. Detailed computations relevant to the quenching of hydrogen line emission in auroras are performed. It is found, incidentally, that the population distribution amongst the states of a level is unlikely to be brought into statistical equilibrium by the collisions suffered by the hydrogen atoms.     

Depletion of satellite atoms in a collisionless exosphere by radiation pressure

Hydrogen atoms in Keplerian orbits about a planet are dynamically perturbed by solar Ly α radiation. These perturbations are examined here by analyzing the rates of change of the classical orbital elements, with rather different conclusions from those drawn by Bertaux and Blamont (1973) from numerical integration of sample orbits. There are three main effects: high inclination orbits with eccentricities $\text{e ? 0.4}$ are forced toward the ecliptic plane within a few weeks; the perigees of direct [or retrograde] orbits drift rapidly (i.e., in a few days) toward stable positions roughly westward [or eastward] of the planet; satellite orbits in or near such a stable point rapidly lower their perigees and the satellite's life is ended by a collision in the atmosphere. Thus there are effects tending to diminish the number of highly eccentric orbits with distant apogees in all six principal directions (N, S; Sun, anti-Sun; E, W). The various lifetimes are compared for a sample of initial elements.