Update on modeling and data analysis of heliospheric solar wind charge exchange X-ray emission

About 15 years ago, charge exchange (CX) X-ray emission was discovered in comet observations, and was identified as the radiative decay of excited states of highly-charge solar wind ions populated in collisions with neutral cometary material. This non-thermal X-ray emission mechanism is now generally acknowledged in planetary environments (e. g. Mars, Earth), as well as interstellar atoms sweeping through the heliosphere. In this paper I present the most recent improvements made in simulations of the heliospheric CX X-ray emission. The model results are compared to X-ray data from Suzaku, XMM-Newton and Chandra spanning over a 10-year period, and some conclusions are drawn on the heliospheric contribution to the diffuse soft X-ray background. The solar system CX X-ray sources can serve as prototypes in terms of modeling and diagnostics to more distant astrophysical objects where CX emission signatures are being discovered. (c) 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH&Co. KGaA, Weinheim