Survival Probabilities of Heliospheric Energetic Neutral Atoms Observed by the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)
4 affiliations
- 1Space Research Centre PAS (CBK PAN)
- 2Los Alamos National Laboratory
- 3Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- 4Princeton University
Abstract
Energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) created outside the heliospheric termination shock are observed at 1 au by heliospheric observatories IBEX and IMAP. These atoms are subjected to ionization losses underway between their birth and detection sites. Consequently, to infer the ENA flux distribution at their entrance inside the termination shock, the observed maps must be appropriately corrected. Here we provide a pedagogical review of the issue of probabilities of survival of ENAs on their travel to the detector, including presentation of the loss reactions, derivation of survival probabilities from first principles and their dependence on the ENA energy, solar activity phase, viewing geometry, etc. We present results of simulations of survival probabilities of ENAs for the past two solar cycles for the energy range and viewing geometry of IMAP. For the first time, we discuss the probabilities for the lowest energies, below 0.2 keV, and the highest, between ∼4 and 300 keV. We point out correlations introduced to the observed ENA maps both within individual maps and between maps for different energies and elongation angles of the detectors. We also identify the most favorable times during the solar activity cycle and viewing geometries to maximize the likelihood of detection of the lowest-energy ENAs. The paper explains the survival probability product, i.e., L3e data from the IMAP GLOWS experiment.
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BibTeX
@article{bzowski2026survival,
title = {{Survival Probabilities of Heliospheric Energetic Neutral Atoms Observed by the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)}},
author = {M. Bzowski and M. A. Kubiak and C. Porowski and I. Kowalska-Leszczynska and M. Strumik and D. B. Reisenfeld and N. A. Schwadron and M. Gkioulidou and D. J. McComas},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/ae9b02},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4365/ae9b02},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Survival Probabilities of Heliospheric Energetic Neutral Atoms Observed by the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)
AU - M. Bzowski
AU - M. A. Kubiak
AU - C. Porowski
AU - I. Kowalska-Leszczynska
AU - M. Strumik
AU - D. B. Reisenfeld
AU - N. A. Schwadron
AU - M. Gkioulidou
AU - D. J. McComas
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
DO - 10.3847/1538-4365/ae9b02
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4365/ae9b02
AB - Energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) created outside the heliospheric termination shock are observed at 1 au by heliospheric observatories IBEX and IMAP. These atoms are subjected to ionization losses underway between their birth and detection sites. Consequently, to infer the ENA flux distribution at their entrance inside the termination shock, the observed maps must be appropriately corrected. Here we provide a pedagogical review of the issue of probabilities of survival of ENAs on their travel to the detector, including presentation of the loss reactions, derivation of survival probabilities from first principles and their dependence on the ENA energy, solar activity phase, viewing geometry, etc. We present results of simulations of survival probabilities of ENAs for the past two solar cycles for the energy range and viewing geometry of IMAP. For the first time, we discuss the probabilities for the lowest energies, below 0.2 keV, and the highest, between ∼4 and 300 keV. We point out correlations introduced to the observed ENA maps both within individual maps and between maps for different energies and elongation angles of the detectors. We also identify the most favorable times during the solar activity cycle and viewing geometries to maximize the likelihood of detection of the lowest-energy ENAs. The paper explains the survival probability product, i.e., L3e data from the IMAP GLOWS experiment.
SN - 0067-0049
SN - 1538-4365
ER -