Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm13d..05k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM13D-05
Physics
[2732] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings, [2753] Magnetospheric Physics / Numerical Modeling, [2756] Magnetospheric Physics / Planetary Magnetospheres, [6280] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturnian Satellites
Scientific paper
Saturn's moons offer a huge variety of different types of plasma interactions of the planet's dipole field and magnetospheric plasma with the moon's solid body, its atmosphere in the case of Titan or plume in the case of Enceladus. These objects are embedded in rather different environments resulting e.g. in subalfvenic or superalfvenic interaction types with very different spatial and temporal scales. To all these diverse scenarios we successfully apply our hybrid simulation code A.I.K.E.F. (adaptive ion kinetic electron fluid) and investigate the underlying physical processes: The icy satellites Tethys and Rhea do not possess a significant atmosphere, leading to a direct absorption of the impinging magnetospheric plasma at the moons' surfaces. We analyze how the density void is refilled by counter-streaming ions as well as the weak magnetic perturbations measured by Cassini in the moons’ wakes. At Titan, the ion gyroradii are comparable to the radius of the moon, requiring a kinetic description of the asymmetric pick-up tail. We present real-time simulations of Titan's plasma interaction in a dynamical environment like the magnetopause crossing that was observed during Cassini's T32 flyby. The different field and plasma flow orientations in magnetosphere and -sheath result in fossil fields in Titan's lower ionosphere as well as in a large-scale reconfiguration of the pick-up tail, which can only be resolved simultaneously by using an adaptive mesh. Enceladus represents a unique combination of both, the icy-satellite-type-interaction and the interaction with a spatially displaced dense atmosphere, i.e. its plume. Our model is the first one to connect a realistic model of the multiple jets forming the neutral plume with a self-consistent description of the momentum loading process due to charge exchange. By comparing our latest simulation results with Cassini magnetometer data (MAG), we investigate the highly twisted structure of the Alfven wing system triggered by the plume.
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