Photodetachment and Test-particle Simulation Constraints on Negative Ions in Solar System Plasmas
Photodetachment and Test-particle Simulation Constraints on Negative Ions in Solar System Plasmas
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DOI：
10.3847/psj/abf638
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发表时间：
2021-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Lue, Charles
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Desai, Ravindra T.;Zhang, Zeqi;Lue, Charles
近年来，宇宙飞船在太阳系中探测到了大量的负离子。然而，这些检测是由并非为此目的而设计的仪器进行的，因此，关于这些非预期血浆组分的流行率仍存在显著的不确定性。在这篇文章中，光剥离的现象进行检查，实验和理论推导的横截面被用来计算光剥离率的范围内的原子和分子的负离子受到太阳光子光谱。这些利率适用于负离子流出木卫二，土卫二，土卫六，土卫四，土卫五和土卫五和他们的轨迹进行跟踪，以限制源生产率和负离子能够渗透到周围的空间环境的程度。以海卫一为例，预测了外太阳系中负离子的分布。这项研究表明，在日心距离增加的情况下，负离子可以形成稳定的环境等离子体种群，并可以被未来的外太阳系任务所利用。
Negative ions have been detected in abundance in recent years by spacecraft across the solar system. These detections were, however, made by instruments not designed for this purpose and, as such, significant uncertainties remain regarding the prevalence of these unexpected plasma components. In this article, the phenomenon of photodetachment is examined, and experimentally and theoretically derived cross-sections are used to calculate photodetachment rates for a range of atomic and molecular negative ions subjected to the solar photon spectrum. These rates are applied to negative ions outflowing from Europa, Enceladus, Titan, Dione, and Rhea and their trajectories are traced to constrain source production rates and the extent to which negative ions are able to pervade the surrounding space environments. Predictions are also made for further negative ion populations in the outer solar system with Triton used as an illustrative example. This study demonstrates how, at increased heliocentric distances, negative ions can form stable ambient plasma populations and can be exploited by future missions to the outer solar system.