Implications of the Observations of Partially Ionized States in the Low Energy Galactic Cosmic Rays

Of the low energy (30-100 MeV/N)Fe-group nuclei of Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) a fraction of about 20 percent of these are in partially ionized states. The origin of these particles are not known at present. From the considerations of relevant cross-sections, the following two important processes of the phenomena are given: (1) these GCR Fe-group nuclei must have captured the orbital electrons at energies of 1-5 MeV/N, while traversing matter; and (2) that these GCR ions of 1-5 MeV/N are then reaccelerated to energies of at least 30-100 MeV/N, most probably in the heliospheric boundary region. Three possible scenarios of the electron-capture processes are briefly discussed: (1) electron capture in a large molecular cloud; (2) GCR equilibrium spectra in ISM and their equilibrium charge; and (3) electron capture in the Oort's cloud.