Die Quelle des E Rings - das Enceladus Rätsel

2005年7月14日，卡西尼号飞船近距离飞掠E环卫星土卫二时所做的激动人心的观测，为这个土星最大环的形成、动态和维持提供了全新的视角。我们希望通过考虑该区域的适当来源、动力学和汇，推导出太阳系中最大的行星周围尘埃结构的动力学模型。虽然人们对E环尘埃的沉降或多或少有所了解，但通过最近的卡西尼号的观测，人们对其来源和尘埃动力学的认识发生了实质性的变化。除了微流星体轰击和由此产生的粒子喷射（后一种过程可能也与特提斯有关）之外，土卫二表面的冰冻火山作用必须被认为是主要的尘埃产生过程。此外，地球物理活动似乎只发生在土卫二的南极，在E环区域，除了冰分裂外，还喷出了中性气体。这种气体可以敏感地影响土卫二轨道附近的等离子体和磁层环境，从而影响E环粒子的充电过程。该项目的主要目标是从理论上研究E环主要源附近的cda数据是否携带有关土卫二和特提斯上粒子产生和喷射过程的信息。这就暗示了一个问题：土卫二上的冰火山作用是如何影响随后的动力学和整个E环的结构的？

The sensational observations of the Cassini-Spacecraft during its close flyby at the E ring moon Enceladus (July 14th, 2005) open up completely new vistas on the creation, dynamics and sustainment of this largest ring of Saturn. We want to derive a kinetic model of this largest circum-planetary dust configuration in our Solar system by considering proper sources, dynamics and sinks in this region. While the sinks of the E ring dust are more or less known, the knowledge about the sources and the dust dynamics underwent substantial changes through to the recent Cassini observations. Cryovolcanism at Enceladus surface has to be considered as the main dust creation-process in addition to micro-meteoroid bombardment and the resulting particle ejecta (the latter process is possibly also relevant for Tethys). Moreover, the geophysical activities seem to exclusively occur at Enceladus south pole where beyond ice splitter also neutral gas is spit in the E ring region. This gas can sensitively influence the plasma- and magnetospheric environment in the vicinity of Enceladus orbit, and thus, the charging processes of the E ring particles. The major goal of this project is to theoretically investigate whether the CDA-data of the E ring in the vicinity of its main sources carry information about the process of particle creation and ejection at Enceladus and Tethys. This implies the question: How does the cryovolcanism at Enceladus influence the subsequent dynamics and with it the configuration of the whole E ring?