The role of N+ in the decay of the ring current during geomagnetic storms by means of charge exchange interactions

Ring current enhancement during geomagnetic storms will greatly affect the systems and technologies on the ground and in the near space of the earth. The effect of N+ in the evolution of the ring current has not been paid much attention due to the fact that most ring current detection instruments could not distinguish N+ from O+, and all of N+ was regarded as O+. This study focuses on the differences between the behavior of N+ and O+ in the charge exchange interaction, the dominant mechanism during the decay phase of the ring current. In addition to their mass difference, N+ and O+ have different charge exchange interaction cross-sections across the energy level of the ring current. Hot Ion Electron Drift Integrator, a model that solves the bounce-averaged Boltzmann equation, is used to calculate the distribution function of all ring current ions under six different geocorona models. The simulation takes an input of an artificial storm condition which is created based on a real storm condition. Three N+ compositions: 0%, 50%, and 100% are simulated for Hodges [1994] and Rairden et al. [1986] models to examine the effect of the N+ on the dynamics of the ring current. The results show that N+ has a shorter lifetime than O+ given the same conditions, and thus leads to a faster decay rate of the ring current than O+ does.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Chi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ilie, Raluca

• Nitrogen ion
• charge exchange interactions
• ring current
• geomagnetic storms

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Chi Zhang

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117618

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F117618