Observational analysis reveals elevated iron charge states in the solar wind during coronal mass ejections, indicating extreme coronal temperatures and solar activity tracking.
We present solar wind Fe charge state data measured on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) from early 1998 to the middle of 2000. Average Fe charge states in the solar wind are typically around 9+ to 11+. However, deviations from these average charge states occur, including intervals with a large fraction of Fe≥16+ which are consistently associated with interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). By studying the Fe charge state distribution we are able to extract coronal electron temperatures often exceeding 2 × 106 kelvins. We also discuss the temporal trends of these events, indicating the more frequent appearance of periods with high Fe charge states as solar activity increases.
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Lepri et al. (2001) studied this question.
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