X rays from solar wind charge exchange at Mars: A comparison of simulations and observations

A hybrid simulation of the solar wind‐Mars interaction and a test particle simulation of heavy ion trajectories near Mars are used to compute the contribution from solar wind charge exchange processes to the X‐ray emission from Mars. It is found that the X‐ray halo observed by the Chandra X‐ray observatory can be explained by emissions from heavy, highly charged, ions in the solar wind undergoing charge exchange collisions in the upper atmosphere of Mars.