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Hybrid Simulations of Positively and Negatively Charged Pickup Ions and Cyclotron Wave Generation at Europa

R. Desai,M. Cowee,Hanying Wei,Xiangrong Fu,S. Gary,S. Gary,M. Volwerk,A. Coates

Published 2017 in Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics

ABSTRACT

In the vicinity of Europa, Galileo observed bursty Alfvén‐cyclotron wave power at the gyrofrequencies of a number of species including K+, O 2+ , Na+, and Cl+, indicating the localized pickup of these species. Additional evidence for the presence of chlorine was the occurrence of both left‐hand (LH) and right‐hand (RH) polarized 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 nongyrotropic ion distributions and increased wave amplitudes, and how even trace quantities of negative pickup ions are able to generate an observable RH signal. Through comparing simulated and observed wave amplitudes, we are able to place the first constraints on the densities of Chlorine pickup ions in localized regions at Europa.

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