Particle-in-cell modelling of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Abstract

Context. Sufficiently far from the Sun, all comets go through a phase of low activity. Rosetta observations at large heliocentric distances of approximately 3 au showed that the plasma at a low-activity comet is affected by both steady state electric fields and low-frequency waves. Aims. Our goal is to provide a model for the electric fields in the inner coma at a low-activity comet and to simulate waves and field structures farther away from the nucleus. Methods. We compare analytical models for the convective, ambipolar, and polarisation electric fields to the results of an electrostatic particle-in-cell simulation of a scaled-down low-activity comet. Results. We find good agreement between the steady state field model and the simulation results close to the nucleus. At larger cometocentric distances, waves dominate the electric field. These waves are interpreted as the scaled-down electrostatic limit of the previously observed singing comet waves. The comet ion density is not spherically symmetric. Conclusions. Low-activity comets can be modelled using electrostatic particle-in-cell simulations of a scaled-down system. Outside the innermost part of the coma (r ≳ 40 km), the plasma is not spherically symmetric and the electric field is dominated by waves.

Indirect Observations of Electric Fields at Comet 67P

“…Gunell and Goetz (2023) used particle‐in‐cell (PIC) modeling to determine the electric fields around the nucleus, and compared with an analytical electric‐field model similar to the one in Nilsson et al. (2018).…”

Unveiling the 3D Structure of Magnetosheath Jets

“…Amitis has been extensively applied to study plasma interactions with various planetary bodies including the Moon, Mercury, Ganymede, Mars, Comets, and several asteroids (e.g., Fatemi et al, 2017;Fuqua-Haviland et al, 2019;Fatemi et al, 2020;Aizawa et al, 2021;Poppe et al, 2021;Rasca et al, 2022;Fatemi et al, 2022;Shi et al, 2022;X.-D. Wang et al, 2023;Poppe & Fatemi, 2023;Gunell et al, 2024). In addition, its results have been successfully validated through comparison with spacecraft observations (e.g., Fatemi et al, 2017Fatemi et al, , 2020Aizawa et al, 2021;Rasca et al, 2022;Fatemi et al, 2022;X.-D. Wang et al, 2023), theories (Fuqua-Haviland et al, 2019), and other kinetic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models (Fatemi et al, 2017;Aizawa et al, 2021).…”