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Title: Hybrid simulations of positively and negatively charged pickup ions and cyclotron wave generation at Europa

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024479· OSTI ID:1394982
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [1]
  1. Univ. College London (UCL), London (United Kingdom). Mullard Space Science Lab. (MSSL); Univ. College London (UCL), Birkbeck (United Kingdom). Centre for Planetary Sciences
  2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Inst. of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
  4. Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO (United States)
  5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO (United States)
  6. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz (Austria). Space Research Inst.
+ Show Author Affiliations

In the vicinity of Europa, Galileo observed bursty Alfvén-cyclotron wave power at the gyrofrequencies of a number of species including K+, math formula, Na+, and Cl+, indicating the localised pickup of these species. Additional evidence for the presence of Chlorine was the occurrence of both left-hand (LH) and right-hand (RH) polarised 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 non-gyrotropic ion distributions and increased wave amplitudes, and how even trace quantities of negative pickup ions are able to generate an observable RH signal. Here, through comparing simulated and observed wave amplitudes, we are able to place the first constraints on the densities of Chlorine pickup ions in localised regions at Europa.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; NAS5-01072; NNX16AM98G
OSTI ID:
1394982
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-24957
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Vol. 122, Issue 10; ISSN 2169-9380
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 12 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Heavy negative ion growth in Titan’s polar winter journal September 2019

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58 GEOSCIENCES
Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics