I took a look at that -- it's a "numerical simulation", which means that they just played around with numbers until they got the results they wanted. Their estimate of ionization is only meaningful within their mathematical model, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the principles of physics. Elsewhere also I've found only model estimates, which is surprising, since I'd think that this could be directly measured.Lloyd wrote:Photosphere 3% Ionized
The photosphere is not fully ionized—the extent of ionization is about 3%, leaving almost all of the hydrogen in atomic form.[78]
78. ^Rast, M.; Nordlund, Å.; Stein, R.; Toomre, J. (1993). "Ionization Effects in Three-Dimensional Solar Granulation Simulations". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 408 (1): L53–L56. Bibcode:1993ApJ...408L..53R. doi:10.1086/186829.
BTW, I quote a more recent paper by some of the same authors, concerning the near-surface density gradient, in my page on the Surface:
Stein, R. F.; Nordlund, A. (1998): Simulations of Solar Granulation. I. General Properties. The Astrophysical Journal, 499: 914-946
In it, they found that it took a steep fall-off in density at the surface in order to simulate the behavior of solar granules, similar to the fall-off in your earlier image. But as I said previously, they didn't bother to consider the implications of their research -- that the density gradient is non-ideal, proving the presence of other forces. They just modified the equations of state to make it so, and began work on their next grant proposal.
Oops, I moved that material to the next section, named Conversions.Lloyd wrote:CC's CME Paper
I then checked out the Potentials paper at http://qdl.scs-inc.us/2ndParty/Pages/7909.html, but I didn't find any mention there of CMEs. You must have edited that out, or forgot to add it.
No, the +ions are accelerated outward by the explosive power of the solar flares, against the electric field.Lloyd wrote:Anyway, I guess you're saying that solar flares produce CMEs and then the lighter +ions are accelerated outward by the positive charge of the photosphere...
It looks like the +ions rain back down to the Sun. Roughly 60% of the matter in the entire heliosphere is within 0.2 AU of the Sun.Lloyd wrote:Do you say then that the +ions eventually fall back into the Sun, or that they somehow join the +ions in the heliopause? Or do just the electrons move on out to the heliopause?
http://qdl.scs-inc.us/2ndParty/Pages/13423_wbg.png
So if CMEs (or solar wind for that matter) were fillng up the heliosphere with matter, where is it all going? I think that the only conclusion is that it is raining back down to the Sun.
That appears to come from interstellar matter impinging on the heliosphere. The particles are zipping in at 25 km/s, and electrons get stripped off in particle collisions, while the +ions continue on, due to their greater mass.Lloyd wrote:Where does the positive charge of the heliopause come from?
May, H. D. (2008): A Pervasive Electric Field in the Heliosphere. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 36 (5): 2876-2879