Hybrid simulations of positively and negatively charged pickup Ions and cyclotron wave generation at Europa
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
In the vicinity of Europa, Galileo observed bursty Alfvén-cyclotron wave power at the gyrofrequencies of a number of species including K+, O urn:x-wiley:jgra:media:jgra53834:jgra53834-math-0001, Na+, and Cl+, indicating the localized pickup of these species. Additional evidence for the presence of chlorine was the occurrence of both left-hand (LH) and right-hand (RH) polarized transverse wave power near the Cl+ gyrofrequency, thought to be due to the pickup of both Cl+ and the easily formed chlorine anion, Cl−. To test this hypothesis, we use one-dimensional hybrid (kinetic ion, massless fluid electron) simulations for both positive and negative pickup ions and self-consistently reproduce the growth of both LH and RH Alfvén-cyclotron waves in agreement with linear theory. We show how the simultaneous generation of LH and RH waves can result in nongyrotropic ion distributions and increased wave amplitudes, and how even trace quantities of negative pickup ions are able to generate an observable RH signal. Through comparing simulated and observed wave amplitudes, we are able to place the first constraints on the densities of Chlorine pickup ions in localized regions at Europa.
Date Issued
2017-10-01
Date Acceptance
2017-09-13
Citation
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2017, 122 (10), pp.10408-10420
ISSN
2169-9380
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Start Page
10408
End Page
10420
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Volume
122
Issue
10
Copyright Statement
©2017. The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000419937800045&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
WATER GROUP IONS
SUBSURFACE OCEANS
COMET HALLEY
FREE-ENERGY
PLASMA
INSTABILITIES
CHLORINE
SODIUM
ATMOSPHERE
DISPERSION
Publication Status
Published