Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p21b0366k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P21B-0366
Other
2753 Numerical Modeling, 2756 Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6030), 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, 5443 Magnetospheres (2756), 6235 Mercury
Scientific paper
Mercury is a planet with a relatively weak intrinsic magnetic field without an atmosphere and an ionosphere. The weak intrinsic field produces a small magnetosphere compared with the size of the terrestrial magnetosphere in which plasma can interact directly with the planetary surface. The small spatial scale, the associated short time scales for plasma processes, and the direct plasma-surface interaction produces a plasma environment that is anticipated to have unique features among the plasma environments near other planetary bodies in the Solar System. Our knowledge of the ions near Mercury is limited due to the fact that we lack of in-situ ion measurements near the planet. The properties of the ions near Mercury are thus based on computer models, and with analogy models with the terrestrial magnetosphere. These studies suggest, for example, that the planetary ions might play an important role as a current carrier affecting thus to the global Mercury-solar wind interaction. Planetary ions can also be picked-up by the solar wind thus providing a not-thermal loss mechanism for the planetary exosphere neutrals. Some of the ions may also be precipitate the surface and affect to the emission rate of planetary neutrals and ions from the surface. Properties of the ions near Mercury gives thus a variety of information about how the solar wind particles and energy is transported through the magnetopause, the exosphere densities, acceleration of ions, the plasma-surface processes, the loss of planetary neutrals, and the role of planetary ions to the near planet. So far the more sophisticated models to study the properties of the solar wind protons near Mercury are based on self-consistent three-dimensional MHD models. The properties of the Hermean ions have instead been studied by non-self consistent test particle simulations. We have developed a global model to analyze near Hermean ions self-consistently. The model, a quesineutral hybrid model, includes several planetary ion species, such as Na+, K+, and O+ ions, which have been taken into account self-consistently. The planetary ions are formed from both from the exospheric neutrals by photoionization, and from the surface by ion sputtering processes. In the presentation we show how the various ion species are distributed spatially around the planet at different upstream conditions and how the ions are accelerated, by putting a special emphasis to study the question about the role of the planetary ions to the overall Mercury-solar wind interaction
Janhunen Pekka
Kallio Esa J.
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