ION CHARGE STATES OF THE SOLAR NOBLE GASES IN THE LUNAR ILMENITES

Abstract

The solar wind (SW) and the solar energetic particles (SEP, 1-50 MeV/n), being two distinguishable components of the solar corpuscular emanation, provide the direct clue to the processes in the corona and chromosphere. Indeed, the chromosphere and the lowest layers of the corona are the likely regions of the atom-ion separations, depending on the first ionization potential (FIP) of the elements; the charge states of the ions are eventually formed in the equilibrium with the local electron temperatures Te(r) and density ne(r), and they remain unaltered in further processes. Thus, the physical conditions above the photosphere can be studied by deriving the charge states of SW and SEP. Both the components are distinguished by their isotopic and elemental abundances. SEP, associated with the solar flares, are considered to be shock wave accelerated before injection from the corona and/or during propagation in the heliosphere. This leads to the SEP fractionation in proportion to A/Z or (A/Z) (to A/Q or (A/Q), where Q is the ion charge, if the ionization is incomplete [1]. In the case of i and j isotopes of the same element the fractionation is proportional to A/A or (A/A), i.e. to the common mass-fractionation. In the stony meteorites, enriched with the solar noble gases, the (A/Z) regularity for the SEP component has been first detected, apparently, in [2]. Lunar Ilmenites: The SEP fractionation is strongly variable from event to event, so that its long-time average values provided with implanted noble gases in lunar samples are of paramount importance.