Cosmic ray ionization of lower Venus atmosphere

Abstract

The high energy solar and galactic cosmic rays are known to ionize earth's atmosphere. The cosmic ray degradation and production of electron-ion pairs in Venus ionosphere are computed. At lower altitudes, Venus atmosphere is dense and cosmic ray particles are known to decay and give rise to various charged and neutral particles. The flux and degradation of dominant cascade particles namely neutrinos and pions are computed and ionization contributions at lower altitudes are estimated. Using the height profile of pion flux, the muon ray flux is computed and used to estimate ionization at lower altitudes. It is shown that cosmic ray produced ionization descends to much lower altitudes intercepting the thickness of Venus cloud deck. The dynamical features of Venus cloud deck are used to show the likely charging and charge separation processes resulting into cloud-to-cloud lightning discharges.