Electromagnetic instabilities in solar wind interaction with dusty cometary plasmas

Journal Article · Sat Jul 20 04:00:00 EDT 1996 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.51469· OSTI ID:21163500

Verheest, Frank; Meuris, Peter ^[1]

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1. Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, B-9000 Ghent (Belgium)

Dusty plasmas contain charged dust grains which are much more massive than protons and carry high negative charges due to preferential capture of electrons. Fluctuations in the grain charges due to capture or liberation of additional electrons and protons translate as momentum losses or gains, which can lead to wave damping or growth. Many authors have addressed the pickup of ions of cometary origin by the solar wind, partly due to relative streaming between cometary and solar wind ions which excites low-frequency electromagnetic turbulence. In the present work we include effects due to charged dust in cometary environments. We have investigated several frequency regimes: nonresonant below the cometary charged dust gyrofrequency (new and interesting but highly unlikely{exclamation_point}), nonresonant below the cometary watergroup gyrofrequency and resonant with the cometary watergroup ions. For most parameter ranges either existing instabilities can be enhanced, showing that charged dust facilitates the cometary ion pickup by the solar wind, or new instabilities or damping mechanisms have been shown to exist.

• OSTI ID: 21163500
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 382; ISSN 0094-243X; ISSN APCPCS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ASTROPHYSICS
CAPTURE
DAMPING
DUSTS
ELECTRONS
FLUCTUATIONS
GAIN
GYROFREQUENCY
IONS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PROTONS
SOLAR WIND
TURBULENCE