Hybrid simulations of interstellar pickup ion acceleration at the solar wind termination shock

Abstract

Hybrid (kinetic ion/fluid electron) simulations have been used to study self‐consistently the injection and initial stages of acceleration of interstellar pickup ions at the solar wind termination shock. Results are presented from one‐dimensional simulations of high Mach number oblique (40°–50°) shocks with a 10% population of interstellar pickup hydrogen. In these simulations, the pickup ions, the solar wind ions, the shock fields and the waves are all treated self‐consistently. Pickup ions reflected by the shock excite large amplitude (ΔB/B ∼ 0.3) upstream magnetosonic waves. These waves, in turn, scatter the pickup hydrogen, as expected in the diffusive shock acceleration process. The spectrum of excited waves broadens in time. We find that, for the parameters studied, the termination shock efficiently injects and accelerates the interstellar pickup hydrogen, and thus this work represents a microscopic verification of this anomalous cosmic ray injection mechanism. Comparison of injected fluxes from the simulations with Voyager fluxes extrapolated to the termination shock suggests that injection at the termination shock is probably greater than injection by interplanetary shocks. A study of accelerated pickup ion orbits shows that the energy gain comes predominantly from shock drift acceleration in the shock front, with the upstream waves aiding the acceleration by allowing multiple encounters with the shock.