Test particle model of pickup ions at comet Halley

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · J. Geophys. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA093iA07p07532· OSTI ID:6952820

Luhmann, J G; Fedder, J A; Winske, D

A test particle treatment is used to investigate some of the details of the pickup cometary ions observed at comet Halley. The effects of the large-scale magnetic and motional electric fields, as described by an MHD model of the comet, produce the characteristic V shape seen in Giotto observations in simulated energy-time spectrograms. It is demonstrated that scattering produced by the addition of magnetic field fluctuations can obscure the tendency of the large-scale field to deflect energetic ions picked up in the outer coma from the tail axis. The fact that the V is so clearly observed in the Giotto spectrogram thus suggests that although scattering must be invoked to explain the isotropic pitch angle distributions and highest energy ions, it does not have a major effect on the overall pickup ion spectrum. copyright American Geophysical Union 1988

• Research Organization: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles
• OSTI ID: 6952820
• Journal Information: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Geophys. Res.; (United States) Vol. 93:A7; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
CHARGED PARTICLES
COMETS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
HALLEY COMET
HEAVY IONS
INSTABILITY
IONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA
PLASMA ACCELERATION
PLASMA INSTABILITY
TURBULENCE