Minor ions in the low corona

The ability of Coulomb friction to drag minor ions out of the subsonic region of the low corona is studied analytically. New analytical expressions are obtained for the minimum proton flux that is required to drag minor ions out of the corona and for the velocity, relative to the protons, at which the minor ions are dragged out. These new results are used to suggest that the positive n(alpha)/n(p) versus v(p) correlation and the negative n(alpha)/n(p) versus n(p)v(p) correlation observed for solar wind helium at 1 AU are due to variations in the temperature of the low corona.