Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm33d..07c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM33D-07
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2152] Interplanetary Physics / Pickup Ions, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars, [6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan, [7829] Space Plasma Physics / Kinetic Waves And Instabilities
Scientific paper
Ion pickup is an important atmospheric loss process at weakly magnetized planets and satellites such as Mars, Venus and Titan. To better understand this process in planetary environments we can use the electromagnetic plasma waves generated by the pickup ions as a diagnostic tool. The generation of these waves is an important consequence of the pickup process because it creates populations of newborn ions with unstable distributions in velocity space. The characteristics of the waves can be used to infer the types of pickup ions present, their production rate, and the spatial and temporal variability of this rate. We carry out hybrid (kinetic ions, fluid electrons) simulations of the pickup ions and wave growth in order to interpret the wave observations, focusing on the environments at Mars and Titan. At Mars, strong waves with amplitudes as high as dB/B0 ~ 0.5 were detected by Mars Global Surveyor, and wave amplitude was found to increase as the spacecraft neared the planet. We use the hybrid simulation to estimate the ion pickup rates associated with these wave amplitudes. At Titan, ion cyclotron waves were not detected by the Cassini spacecraft despite other evidence of strong mass-loading. We use the hybrid simulation to explore the reasons why the expected waves have not been detected. In both the Mars and Titan environments, the growth time of the waves is a very important consideration in the interpretation of observations.
Cowee Misa M.
Gary Peter S.
Wei Hongduo
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