Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p13a1658p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P13A-1658
Statistics
Computation
[0317] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Chemical Kinetic And Photochemical Properties, [0343] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Planetary Atmospheres, [6005] Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies / Atmospheres, [6210] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Comets
Scientific paper
Cometary comae are collisional atmospheres in a zero-gravity, zero B-field environment. Their chemical compositions not only contain molecules released directly from the nucleus, but photidissociative daughter and granddaughter products as well. A major goal of comet studies today is to understand the nature of the production of these photodissociation products and use them to aid us in determining the full chemical composition of the nucleus. However, this cannot be achieved without robust coma models. Classical coma models assume spherical symmetry of the coma and are thus applicable to comae that are essentially spherical. However, many comets are known to exhibit prominent jet-like or fan-like features in their comae, rendering such comae highly asymmetric. One approach for reproducing these asymmetric comae is to employ Monte Carlo modeling, but this approach is computationally intense. Therefore, we have constructed a new-generation vectorial model that is capable of accommodating asymmetric comae while maintaining the computational simplicity of the classical coma models. Our new model begins its calculations in the same manner as the original model, but it performs the line-of-sight integration for the column density of material by using a cone instead of a sphere to represent the overall coma shape. We will demonstrate the ability of this model to reproduce the spatial distribution of CN in the comae of several Jupiter-family comets that we have observed spectroscopically. By employing a shape that more accurately represents the overall shape of the coma, we can more adequately reproduce the spatial distribution of many daughter species for which the photochemical parent has not been definitively identified.
Cochran Anita
Dorman Garrett R.
Pierce Damien
Vaughan C.
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