Elemental abundances of major elements in the solar wind as measured in Genesis targets and implications on solar wind fractionation
Abstract
We present elemental abundance data of C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Ca, and Cr in Genesis silicon targets. For Na, Mg, Al, and Ca, data from three different SW regimes are also presented. Data were obtained by backside depth profiling using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. The accuracy of these measurements exceeds those obtained by in-situ observations; therefore the Genesis data provide new insights into elemental fractionation between Sun and solar wind, including differences between solar wind regimes. We integrate previously published noble gas and hydrogen elemental abundances from Genesis targets, as well as preliminary values for K and Fe. The abundances of the solar wind elements measured display the well-known fractionation pattern that correlates with each element's First Ionization Potential (FIP). When normalized either to spectroscopic photospheric solar abundances or to those derived from CI-chondritic meteorites, the fractionation factors of low-FIP elements (K, Na, Al, Ca, Cr, Mg, Fe) are essentially identical within uncertainties, but the data are equally consistent with an increasing fractionation with decreasing FIP. The elements with higher FIPs between ~11 and ~16 eV (C, N, O, H, Ar, Kr, Xe) display a relatively well-defined trend of increasing fractionation with decreasing FIP, if normalized to modern 3D photospheric model abundances. Among the three Genesis regimes, the Fast SW displays the least elemental fractionation for almost all elements (including the noble gases) but differences are modest: for low-FIP elements the precisely measured Fast-Slow SW variations are less than 3%.
Citation
Heber , V , McKeegan , K , Steele , R C J , Jurewicz , A , Rieck , K , Guan , Y , Wieler , R & Burnett , D S 2021 , ' Elemental abundances of major elements in the solar wind as measured in Genesis targets and implications on solar wind fractionation ' , Astrophysical Journal , vol. 907 , no. 1 , 15 . https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abc94a
Publication
Astrophysical Journal
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0004-637XType
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2021 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abc94a
Description
The UCLA ion microprobe facility is partially supported by a grant from the NSF Instrumentation and Facilities program. V. S. Heber thanks NASA for financial support. This work was supported by grants from the NASA Laboratory Analysis of Returned Samples (LARS) program (NASA LARS 80NSSC17K0025 to D. S. Burnett and A. J. G. Jurewicz). R. Wieler acknowledges the hospitality of Caltech's Division of Geologial and Planetary Sciences during his stay in Pasadena.Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The solar cycle variation of topological structures in the global solar corona
Platten, S.J.; Parnell, C.E.; Haynes, A.L.; Priest, E.R.; MacKay, D.H. (2014-05-01) - Journal articleContext. The complicated distribution of magnetic flux across the solar photosphere results in a complex web of coronal magnetic field structures. To understand this complexity, the magnetic skeleton of the coronal field ... -
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets : XLVI. 12 super-Earths around the solar type stars HD 39194, HD 93385, HD 96700, HD 154088, and HD 189567
Unger, N; Segransan, D; Queloz, D; Udry, S; Lovis, C; Mordasini, C; Ahrer, E; Benz, W; Bouchy, F; Delisle, JB; Diaz, RF; Dumusque, X; Lo Curto, G; Marmier, M; Mayor, M; Pepe, F; Santos, NC; Stalport, M; Alonso, R; Cameron, AC; Deleuil, M; Figueira, P; Gillon, M; Moutou, C; Pollacco, D; Pompei, E (2021-10) - Journal articleContext. We present precise radial-velocity measurements of five solar-type stars observed with the HARPS Echelle spectrograph mounted on the 3.6-m telescope in La Silla (ESO, Chile). With a time span of more than 10 yr ... -
Solar cycle variation of photospheric and chromospheric magnetic and ultraviolet emission features observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory
Noble, Callan Nicholas (2022-11-29) - ThesisThe solar magnetic field exhibits cyclic behaviour over a period of 22 years, continually reprocessing the poloidal, dipolar magnetic field into toroidal, quadrupolar magnetic field and vice versa. The cyclic behaviour of ...