Tidal Deformation of Mercury from Co-registration of Laser Altimeter Profiles and Implications for the Interior Structure of the Planet

我们专注于水星的径向变形，在它的响应由太阳施加的潮汐力。我们将重新分析高度表配置文件获得的MLA（水星激光高度计）仪器上的信使号航天器使用新的技术，还包括一个后校正程序的基础上的伪交叉，我们已经开发了其他应用程序，我们成功地证明。首先，我们将创建潮汐变形的时间和空间模式的半球图。然后，我们将具体测量潮汐参数h2的振幅，这是径向潮汐变形的量度，包括其相关误差。接下来，我们将在即将到来的BepiColombo使命中创建激光高度计BELA观测的合成数据。使用相同的分析技术，我们将研究如何改进h2的测量以实现更小的误差范围。 此外，模拟将研究仪器的能力，以测量的相位滞后的潮汐隆起以及潮汐隆起振幅的依赖频谱成分的频率依赖的潮汐强迫。我们对h2的测量和BepiColombo的预期改进，还包括对潮汐势Love数k2及其来自无线电科学实验的相位滞后的精确确定，将用于讨论行星内部结构参数的新界限（例如，这些数据包括：地核的大小和物理状态、地幔流变学、地核/地幔边界的温度），这将极大地提高我们对水星热演化和磁发电机工作原理的理解。

We focus on the radial deformation of planet Mercury, in its response to tidal forces exerted by the Sun. We will re-analyze altimeter profiles obtained by the MLA (Mercury Laser Altimeter) instrument on the MESSENGER spacecraft using new techniques of co-registration analysis that also includes a post-correction procedure based on pseudo cross-overs, which we have developed earlier for other applications and which we demonstrated successfully. Initially, we will create hemispheric maps of temporal and spatial patterns of the tidal deformation. Then, we will specifically measure the amplitude of the tidal parameter h2 which is a measure for the radial tidal deformation, including its associated errors. Next, we will create synthetic data of observations by the Laser Altimeter BELA on the upcoming BepiColombo mission. Using the same analysis techniques, we will investigate how measurements of h2 will be improved to achieve smaller error bounds. Also, the simulations will be studied for the instrument’s ability to measure the phase lag of the tidal bulge as well as the dependence of tidal bulge amplitudes on spectral components of the frequency dependent tidal forcing. Our measurements of h2 and expected improvements from BepiColombo, also including refined determination of the tidal potential Love number k2 and its phase lag from radio science experiments, will be used to discuss new bounds of interior structure parameters of the planet (e.g., size and physical state of the core, mantle rheology, temperatures at core/mantle boundary), which will greatly improve our understanding of Mercury’s thermal evolution and the workings of the magnetic dynamo.