The electrostatic potential of E ring particles

Kempf, S.; Beckmann, U.; Srama, R.; Horányi, M.; Auer, S.; Grün, E.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2006.05.012

Cited by 78 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…All moons are charged negatively, except for Rhea, which holds a positive potential of about 1 V for SZA lower than 30°. Interestingly, a similar transition from negative to positive potentials with the "zero crossing" between Dione and Rhea is predicted and observed for the E ring grain potentials [Horanyi et al, 1992;Kempf et al, 2006]. This indicates that our calculations are, in general, valid.…”

Section: Moons At Dusk (1800 Lt)supporting

confidence: 83%

Surface charging of Saturn's plasma‐absorbing moons

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] Recent results from the study of the interaction of Earth's moon with the solar wind have highlighted lunar surface charging as an important physical process not only for the local interaction of the surface and the impinging plasma but also for charged dust ejection and transport. Excluding Earth's moon, however, such studies have been limited to very few solar system bodies. Here we assess the importance of surface charging for the Saturnian plasma-absorbing moons. In this initial study, we focus on the various moons' trailing hemispheres and their variable charging patterns as a function of their magnetospheric local time. With only a few exceptions, our results indicate negative potentials for all moons, with the most extreme values predicted for Rhea. When the leading hemisphere is partially sunlit, the surface potential profile can be quite complex with many different transition regions. We also find that electrostatic acceleration of dust is at least equally as (if not more) important as it is for Earth's moon for the submicron grains, but it is probably not sufficient to explain the detection of the larger micron-sized grains in the vicinity of the large moons of the outer planets. Regarding Saturn's asteroid-sized moons, we predict that electrostatic forces can accelerate grains above the escape velocity and populate the Saturnian system and/or contribute to dust transport across those moons' surfaces. On the basis of these results, we also propose several methods by which Cassini's instruments could be used to directly observe the effects of surface charging.

show abstract

Section: Moons At Dusk (1800 Lt)supporting

confidence: 83%

Surface charging of Saturn's plasma‐absorbing moons

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For space dusty plasmas, which usually are weakly collisional, the OML theory represents a good approximation. Measurements of the particle charges made by the Cassini orbiter within Saturn's E-ring, e.g., are in quite reasonable agreement when compared to theoretical predictions based on the OML theory (Kempf et al 2006).…”

Section: Dust Size Distributionssupporting

confidence: 54%

“…While many dusty plasma experiments have used manufactured monodisperse grains, charged (and neutral) grains in space and astrophysical situations come in a whole range of sizes and compositions, hence also masses and charges. Moreover, in situ observations of planetary environments by space missions have often shown that dust distributions are characterized by power-law decays of dust densities with size (Gurnett et al 1983;Showalter et al 1992;Showalter & Cuzzi 1993;Kempf et al 2006;Kurth et al 2006;Kempf et al 2008;Yaroshenko et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear electrostatic modes in astrophysical plasmas with charged dust distributions

Verheest

Yaroshenko

2009

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context. Most theoretical investigations of wave phenomena in dusty plasmas have treated charged dust as additional heavy negative ions in standard multispecies models. Many dusty plasma experiments use monodisperse grains, but charged (and neutral) grains in space environments come in a whole range of sizes and compositions, hence in masses and charges. Dust density distributions having a power-law decay with size are often observed in planetary rings. Aims. There is a need to investigate larger solitary structures, since wave descriptions involving charged dust distributions have usually been limited to linear or weakly nonlinear modes. Methods. Sagdeev pseudopotential methods describe large-amplitude solitary waves in a co-moving reference frame and are adapted to include dust distributions, using mass and charge, or alternatively size, as additional variables. Observed power-law distributions lead to descriptions involving hypergeometric functions. Results. Lower limits for possible solitary wave velocities follow from requiring that the Sagdeev pseudopotentials have a local maximum for the undisturbed conditions, whereas upper limits come from ensuring that dust densities remain real. Nonlinear amplitudes increase with solitary wave velocities and relative electron temperature. Under similar plasma conditions, dust size distributions admit slower solitary wave solutions, with correspondingly smaller amplitudes than given by monodisperse dust models. For typical planetary ring conditions, the difference can be quite appreciable.

show abstract

“…20) is written incorrectly in a number of recent papers (e.g. [105] and many references therein), because they reproduce the onedimensional escaping flux which is invalid for dust grains since they are generally much smaller than the (photoelectron and plasma) Debye lengths. The grain electrostatic potential settles so that the photoelectron flux (Eq.…”

Section: Photoelectron Emissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust in the planetary system: Dust interactions in space plasmas of the solar system

Mann¹,

Meyer‐Vernet²,

Czechowski³

2014

Physics Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cosmic dust particles are small solid objects observed in the solar planetary system and in many astronomical objects like the surrounding of stars, the interstellar and even the intergalactic medium. In the solar system the dust is best observed and most often found within the region of the orbits of terrestrial planets where the dust interactions and dynamics are observed directly from spacecraft. Dust is observed in space near Earth and also enters the atmosphere of the Earth where it takes part in physical and chemical processes. Hence space offers a laboratory to study dust plasma interactions and dust dynamics. A recent example is the observation of nanodust of sizes smaller than 10 nm. We outline the theoretical considerations on which our knowledge of dust electric charges in space plasmas are founded. We discuss the dynamics of the dust particles and show how the small charged particles are accelerated by the solar wind that carries a magnetic field. Finally, as examples for the space observation of cosmic dust interactions, we describe the first detection of fast nanodust in the solar wind near Earth orbit and the first bi-static observations of PMSE, the radar echoes that are observed in the Earth ionosphere in the presence of charged dust.

show abstract

The electrostatic potential of E ring particles

Cited by 78 publications

References 23 publications

Surface charging of Saturn's plasma‐absorbing moons

Surface charging of Saturn's plasma‐absorbing moons

Nonlinear electrostatic modes in astrophysical plasmas with charged dust distributions

Dust in the planetary system: Dust interactions in space plasmas of the solar system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About