Electron cooling at a weakly outgassing comet

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Stephenson ◽  
Marina Galand ◽  
Jan Deca ◽  
Pierre Henri ◽  
Gianluca Carnielli
Keyword(s):  
Pure Water ◽  
Particle Model ◽  
Cold Electron ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
Electron Population ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Neutral Gas ◽  
Test Particles ◽  
Impedance Probe ◽  
Cold Electrons

<p>The Rosetta spacecraft arrived at comet 67P in August 2014 and then escorted it for 2 years along its orbit. Throughout this escort phase, two plasma instruments (Mutual Impedance Probe, MIP; and Langmuir Probe, LAP) measured a population of cold electrons (< 1 eV) within the coma of 67P (Engelhardt et al., 2018; Wattieaux et al, 2020; Gilet et al., 2020). These cold electrons are understood to be formed by cooling warm electrons through collisions with the neutral gas. The warm electrons are primarily newly-born and produced at roughly 10eV within the coma through ionisation. While it was no surprise that cold electrons would form near perihelion given the high density of the neutral coma, the persistence of the cold electrons up to a heliocentric distance of 3.8 au was highly unexpected. With the low outgassing rates observed at such large heliocentric distances (Q < 10<sup>26</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>), there should not be enough neutral molecules to cool the warm electrons efficiently before they ballistically escape the coma.</p><p>We use a collisional test particle model to examine the formation of the cold electron population at a weakly outgassing comet. The electrons are subject to stochastic collisions with the neutral coma which can either scatter or cool the electrons. Multiple electron neutral collision processes are included such that the electrons can undergo elastic scattering as well as collisions inducing excitation and ionisation of the neutral species. The inputted electric and magnetic fields, which act on the test particles, are taken from a 3D fully-kinetic, collisionless Particle-in-Cell (PiC) model of the solar wind and cometary ionosphere (Deca et al., 2017; 2019), with the same neutral coma as used in our model. We use a pure water coma with spherical symmetry and a 1/r<sup>2</sup> dependence in the neutral number density to drive the production of cometary electrons and the electron-neutral collisions.</p><p>We first demonstrate the trapping of electrons in a potential well around the comet nucleus, formed by an ambipolar field. We show how this electron-trapping process can lead to more efficient cooling of electrons and the subsequent formation of a cold electron population, even at low outgassing rates.</p>

scholarly journals Cooling of Electrons in a Weakly Outgassing Comet

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Stephenson ◽  
Marina Galand ◽  
Jan Deca ◽  
Pierre Henri ◽  
Gianluca Carnielli
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Extreme Ultraviolet ◽  
Pure Water ◽  
Particle Model ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Electron Sources ◽  
Cometary Plasma ◽  
Impedance Probe ◽  
Cold Electrons ◽  
The Impact

<p>The plasma instruments, Mutual Impedance Probe (MIP) and Langmuir Probe (LAP), part of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC), onboard the Rosetta mission to comet 67P revealed a population of cold electrons (<1eV) (Engelhardt et al., 2018; Wattieaux et al, 2020; Gilet et al., 2020). This population is primarily generated by cooling warm (~10eV) newly-born cometary electrons through collisions with the neutral coma. What is surprising is that the cold electrons were detected throughout the escort phase, even at very low outgassing rates (Q<1e26 s<sup>-1</sup>) at large heliocentric distances (>3 AU), when the coma was not thought to be dense enough to cool the electron population significantly.</p> <p> Using a collisional test particle model, we examine the behaviour of electrons in the coma of a weakly outgassing comet and the formation of a cold population through electron-neutral collisions. The model incorporates three electron sources: the solar wind, photo-electrons produced through ionisation of the cometary neutrals by extreme ultraviolet solar radiation, and secondary electrons produced through electron-impact ionisation.</p> <p>The model includes different electron-water collision processes, including elastic, excitation, and ionisation collisions.</p> <p> The electron trajectories are shaped by electric and magnetic fields, which are taken from a 3D collisionless fully-kinetic Particle-in-Cell (PIC) model of the solar wind and cometary plasma  (Deca 2017, 2019). We use a spherically symmetric coma of pure water, which gives a r<sup>-2</sup> profile in the neutral density. Throughout their lifetime, electrons undergo stochastic collisions with neutral molecules, which can degrade the electrons in energy or scatter them.</p> <p>We first validate our model with comparison to results from PIC simulations. We then demonstrate the trapping of electrons in the coma by an ambipolar electric field and the impact of this trapping on the production of cold electrons.</p>

scholarly journals Forming a cold electron population at a weakly outgassing comet 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Stephenson ◽  
Marina Galand ◽  
Jan Deca ◽  
Pierre Henri ◽  
Gianluca Carnielli
Keyword(s):  
Test Particle ◽  
Extreme Ultraviolet ◽  
Pure Water ◽  
Particle Model ◽  
Cold Electron ◽  
Electron Population ◽  
Neutral Gas ◽  
Rosetta Mission ◽  
Radial Outflow ◽  
Comet 67P

<p>The Rosetta Mission rendezvoused with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014 and escorted it for two years along its orbit. The Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC) was a suite of instruments, which observed the plasma environment at the spacecraft throughout the escort phase. The Mutual Impedance Probe (RPC/MIP; Wattieaux et al, 2020; Gilet et al., 2020) and Langmuir Probe (RPC/LAP; Engelhardt et al., 2018), both part of RPC, measured the presence of a cold electron population within the coma.</p> <p>Newly born electrons, generated by ionisation of the neutral gas, form a warm population within the coma at ~10eV. Ionisation is either through absorption of extreme ultraviolet photons or through collisions of energetic electrons with the neutral molecules. The cold electron population is formed by cooling the newly born, warm electrons via electron-neutral collisions. Assuming the radial outflow of electrons, the cold population was only expected at comet 67P close to perihelion, where outgassing rate from the nucleus was at its highest (Q > 10<sup>28</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>). However, cold electrons were observed until the end of the Rosetta mission at 3.8au when the outgassing was weak (Q<10<sup>26</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>). Under the radial outflow assumption, there should not have been sufficient neutral gas to efficiently degrade the electron energies.</p> <p>We have developed the first 3D collision model of electrons at a comet. Self-consistently calculated electric and magnetic fields from a collisionless and fully-kinetic Particle-in-Cell model (Deca et al., 2017; 2019) are used as a stationary input for the test particle simulations. We model the neutral coma as a spherically symmetric cloud of pure water, which follows 1/r<sup>2</sup> in cometocentric distance. Electron-neutral collisions are treated as a stochastic process using cross sections from Itikawa and Mason (2005). The model incorporates elastic scattering of electrons and a variety of inelastic collisions, including excitation and ionization of the water molecules.</p> <p>We show that the radial outflow of electrons from the coma is insufficient to generate a cold electron population under weak outgassing conditions. Using our original test particle model, we demonstrate the trapping of electrons in the inner coma by an ambipolar electric field and how this increases the efficiency of the electron cooling.  We also show that, at low outgassing rates, electron-neutral collisions significantly cool electrons within the coma and can lead to the formation of a cold population.</p> <p> </p>

scholarly journals Observation and Modeling of Optical Emission Patterns and Their Transitions in a Penning Discharge

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Klepper ◽  
R. C. Hazelton ◽  
F. Barakat ◽  
M. D. Keitz ◽  
J. P. Verboncoeur
Keyword(s):  
Fusion Energy ◽  
Optical Emission ◽  
Nonlinear Dependence ◽  
Sensor Technology ◽  
Gaseous Species ◽  
Optical Signals ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Neutral Gas ◽  
Minority Species ◽  
Mode Transitions

A Penning discharge tube has been used as the excitation source for optical detection of gaseous species concentrations in a neutral gas. This type of diagnostic has been primarily used in magnetic fusion energy experiments for the detection of minority species in the effluent gas (e.g., for helium detection in a deuterium background). Recent innovations (US Patent no. 6351131, granted February 26, 2002) have allowed for extension of the operation range from <1 Pa to as high as 100 Pa and possibly beyond. This is done by dynamically varying the gauge magnetic field and voltage to keep the optical signals nearly constant (or at least away from a nonlinear dependence on the pressure). However, there are limitations to this approach, because the Penning discharge can manifest itself in a number of modes, each exhibiting a different spatial emission pattern. As a result, varying the discharge parameters can cause the gauge to undergo transitions between these modes, disrupting any intended monotonic dependence of the overall emission on the varied parameter and hence any predicable impact on the emission. This paper discusses some of the modes observed experimentally using video imaging of the discharge. It also presents a first successful application, a particle-in-cell (PIC) code, to simulate these modes and a mode transition. The hope is that a good understanding of the physics involved in the mode transitions may allow for methods of either avoiding or suppressing such transitions. This would aid in broadening the use of this plasma-based sensor technology.

Spectral analysis of forced turbulence in a non-neutral plasma

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Chen ◽  
G. Maero ◽  
M. Romé
Keyword(s):  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Initial Density ◽  
Final States ◽  
Self Similarity ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
Electron Plasmas ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Fluid Turbulence ◽  
Inviscid Incompressible Fluid ◽  
Forced Turbulence

The paper investigates the dynamics of magnetized non-neutral (electron) plasmas subjected to external electric field perturbations. A two-dimensional (2-D) particle-in-cell code is effectively exploited to model this system with a special attention to the role that non-axisymmetric, multipolar radio frequency (RF) drives applied to the cylindrical (circular) boundary play on the insurgence of azimuthal instabilities and the subsequent formation of coherent structures preventing the relaxation to a fully developed turbulent state, when the RF fields are chosen in the frequency range of the low-order fluid modes themselves. The isomorphism of such system with a 2-D inviscid incompressible fluid offers an insight into the details of forced 2-D fluid turbulence. The choice of different initial density (i.e. fluid vorticity) distributions allows for a selection of conditions where different levels of turbulence and intermittency are expected and a range of final states is achieved. Integral and spectral quantities of interest are computed along the flow using a multiresolution analysis based on a wavelet decomposition of both enstrophy and energy 2-D maps. The analysis of a variety of cases shows that the qualitative features of turbulent relaxation are similar in conditions of both free and forced evolution; at the same time, fine details of the flow beyond the self-similarity turbulence properties are highlighted in particular in the formation of structures and their timing, where the influence of the initial conditions and the effect of the external forcing can be distinguished.

scholarly journals Effect of the electron redistribution on the nonlinear saturation of Alfvén eigenmodes and the excitation of zonal flows

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Biancalani ◽  
A. Bottino ◽  
P. Lauber ◽  
A. Mishchenko ◽  
F. Vannini
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Zonal Flow ◽  
Large Aspect Ratio ◽  
Nonlinear Saturation ◽  
Energetic Ions ◽  
Electron Population ◽  
Zonal Flows ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Alfven Eigenmodes ◽  
Reversed Shear

Numerical simulations of Alfvén modes driven by energetic particles are performed with the gyrokinetic (GK) global particle-in-cell code ORB5. A reversed shear equilibrium magnetic field is adopted. A simplified configuration with circular flux surfaces and large aspect ratio is considered. The nonlinear saturation of beta-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (BAE) is investigated. The roles of the wave–particle nonlinearity of the different species, i.e. thermal ions, electrons and energetic ions are described, in particular for their role in the saturation of the BAE and the generation of zonal flows. The nonlinear redistribution of the electron population is found to be important in increasing the BAE saturation level and the zonal flow amplitude.

scholarly journals The Size of IDV Jet Cores

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Beckert ◽  
T. P. Krichbaum ◽  
G. Cimò ◽  
L. Fuhrmann ◽  
A. Kraus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Function Analysis ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Electron Population ◽  
Interstellar Scintillation ◽  
Spectrum Radio ◽  
Shock Models ◽  
Cold Electrons ◽  
Time Argument ◽  
Local Cloud ◽  
Size Estimates

AbstractRadio variability on timescales from a few hours to several days in extragalactic flat spectrum radio sources is generally classified as intraday variability (IDV). The origin of this short term variability is still controversial and both extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms must be considered and may both contribute to the observed variations. The measured linear and circular polarisation of IDV sources constrains the low energy end of the electron population. Any population of cold electrons within sources at or above the equipartition temperature of 1011 K depolarises the emission and can be ruled out. Intrinsic shock models are shown to either violate the large fraction of sources displaying IDV or they do not relax the light travel time argument for intrinsic variations. From structure function analysis, we further conclude that interstellar scintillation also leads to tight size estimates unless a very local cloud in the ISM is responsible for IDV.

scholarly journals Boltzmann electron PIC simulation of the E-sail effect

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (12) ◽  
pp. 1507-1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Janhunen
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Hybrid Simulation ◽  
Space Propulsion ◽  
Electron Population ◽  
Trapped Electrons ◽  
Pic Simulation ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
The Poisson Equation ◽  
New Type ◽  
The One

Abstract. The solar wind electric sail (E-sail) is a planned in-space propulsion device that uses the natural solar wind momentum flux for spacecraft propulsion with the help of long, charged, centrifugally stretched tethers. The problem of accurately predicting the E-sail thrust is still somewhat open, however, due to a possible electron population trapped by the tether. Here we develop a new type of particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation for predicting E-sail thrust. In the new simulation, electrons are modelled as a fluid, hence resembling hybrid simulation, but in contrast to normal hybrid simulation, the Poisson equation is used as in normal PIC to calculate the self-consistent electrostatic field. For electron-repulsive parts of the potential, the Boltzmann relation is used. For electron-attractive parts of the potential we employ a power law which contains a parameter that can be used to control the number of trapped electrons. We perform a set of runs varying the parameter and select the one with the smallest number of trapped electrons which still behaves in a physically meaningful way in the sense of producing not more than one solar wind ion deflection shock upstream of the tether. By this prescription we obtain thrust per tether length values that are in line with earlier estimates, although somewhat smaller. We conclude that the Boltzmann PIC simulation is a new tool for simulating the E-sail thrust. This tool enables us to calculate solutions rapidly and allows to easily study different scenarios for trapped electrons.

scholarly journals Numerical Simulations of Star Formation Bursts Induced by the Galaxy-Galaxy Interaction

1987 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 650-653
Author(s):  
Masafumi Noguchi ◽  
Shiro Ishibashi
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Supernova Explosion ◽  
Particle Model ◽  
Disk Galaxies ◽  
Triggering Mechanism ◽  
Cloud Particle ◽  
Test Particles ◽  
Galaxy Interaction ◽  
The Galaxy

The galaxy-galaxy interaction has been proposed as a possible triggering mechanism of the star formation bursts in some galaxies (e.g. Larson and Tinsley 1978). To investigate the nature of star formation bursts triggered by interaction we have numerically simulated close encounters between disk galaxies, taking the star formation process into account (see Noguchi and Ishibashi 1986 for details). We used the cloud-particle model, in which gas clouds move as test particles in the gravitational field of the galaxies. When two clouds collide with each other, an OB-star is formed. The cloud system loses its kinetic energy by inelastic cloud-cloud collisions. The supernova explosion which follows the formation of an OB-star provides kinetic energy to the nearby clouds.

A 3D particle model for the plume CEX simulation

2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (1255) ◽  
pp. 1425-1441 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lu ◽  
P. Qiu ◽  
Y. Cao ◽  
T.P. Zhang ◽  
J.J. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Analytical Model ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Direct Simulation Monte Carlo ◽  
Particle Model ◽  
Neutral Atoms ◽  
Ion Thruster ◽  
Technology Application ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Ion Thrusters

ABSTRACTCharge Exchange (CEX) ion is the main factor causing the plume pollution. The distribution of CEX ions is determined by the distribution of beam ions and neutral atoms. Hence, the primary problem in the study of the plume is how to accurately simulate the distribution of beam ions and neutral atoms. At present, the most commonly used model utilised for the plume simulation is the analytical model proposed by Roy for the plume simulation of the NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR) ion thruster. However, this analytical model can only be applied to the ion beam with small divergence angles. In addition, the analytical model is no longer applicable to the simulation for the plume of a new type of ion thruster that appeared recently, which is called the annular ion thruster. In this paper, a 3D particle model is proposed for the plume simulation of ion thrusters consisting of the particle model for beam ions, the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) model for neutral atoms and the Immersed Finite Element-Particle In Cell-Monte Carlo Collision (IFE-PIC-MCC) model for CEX ions. Then, the plume of the NSTAR ion thruster is simulated by both Roy's model and the 3D particle model. The simulation results of both models are then compared with the experimental results. It is shown that the numerical results of the 3D particle model agree well with those of the analytical model and the experimental data. And this 3D particle model can also be used for other electric thrusters.

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