Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm44a..02a&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM44A-02
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2431] Ionosphere / Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Interactions, [2736] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions, [2794] Magnetospheric Physics / Instruments And Techniques, [7855] Space Plasma Physics / Spacecraft Sheaths, Wakes, Charging
Scientific paper
Cold plasma originates from the Terrestrial ionosphere and from several planets and moons in the solar system. The temperature of these particle populations corresponds to energies less than a few eV. This indicates the origin of the plasma but also severely complicates detection of the cold positive ions onboard a sunlit spacecraft, which often becomes positively charged to at least a few V. We discuss some methods to observe cold plasmas, including a recently developed technique based on the detection of a local electric field created when cold ions in a supersonic flow create a wake behind a charged spacecraft. Recent results from this technique show that cold plasma can dominate large regions of the Terrestrial magnetosphere on the nightside and in the polar regions. New results show that cold plasma also often dominates in the dayside magnetosphere, and can change the dynamics of processes like magnetic reconnection. We combine several observations to estimate how common cold plasma is in the Terrestrial magnetosphere and briefly compare with Mars, Venus and Titan.
André Martial
Cully C. M.
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