Recycling of Ions in Mercury's Magnetosphere

Details Recycling of Ions in Mercury's Magnetosphere Recycling of Ions in Mercury's Magnetosphere

Jan 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005hia....13...60k&link_type=abstract

Highlights of Astronomy, Vol. 13, as presented at the XXVth General Assembly of the IAU - 2003 [Sydney, Australia, 13 - 26 July

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The predominant loss process for exospheric neutral sodium at Mercury is believed to be photoionization. If the ions are lost from the system then sodium must be efficiently re-supplied to the surface by an unknown mechanism. We have mapped the trajectories of low-energy photoions produced on the dayside of Mercury to determine the true loss rate from the Mercury system. We find that roughly 60% of ions launched on the dayside neutralize by impacting the surface. This has significant implications for the containment of heavy volatiles over geological times. We report a dawn-dusk asymmetry in the spatial pattern in which ions are retained. Ions launched from dawnside areas are retained whereas ions launched from the duskside more easily escape to the solar wind. Thus plots resulting from combining the ion retention pattern with photon-induced production portray the true ability of surface elements to populate the atmosphere. Such results can also be seen in the equilibrium state of the atmosphere. Another long-term effect of the magnetic field is the possible disposal of ions in polar cold traps. We will quantify the fraction of photoions that become trapped on the nightside reimpact the night side and at what latitudes.

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