Currently, I am working to implement solar photoionization into our existing model to simulate more realistic conditions of the heliosphere environment. Photoionization is typically neglected in heliospheric models because the role of charge exchange to total ionization events is much greater than the role of photoionization. However, we want observe what effects photoionization may have in the heliosheath and on the heliospheric boundaries; whether small or negligible. The reason for implementing this is also motivated by the fact that the solar photoionization rate in the heliosphere reacts most strongly to solar cycle variations compared to other ionization processes (e.g. charge exchange and electron impact ionization). A large focal point of SHIELD is exploring time-dependent effects through modeling solar-cycle variations in the solar wind, so we evaluate whether photoionization will play an important role or not.
