Mapping the Lunar Wake Potential Structure With ARTEMIS Data

Shaosui Xu; Andrew R. Poppe; Jasper S. Halekas; David L. Mitchell; James P. McFadden; Yuki Harada

doi:10.1029/2019JA026536

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Mapping the Lunar Wake Potential Structure With ARTEMIS Data

Journal article

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Mapping the Lunar Wake Potential Structure With ARTEMIS Data

Shaosui Xu, Andrew R. Poppe, Jasper S. Halekas, David L. Mitchell, James P. McFadden and Yuki Harada

Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, Vol.124(5), pp.3360-3377

05/2019

DOI: 10.1029/2019JA026536

PMCID: PMC7816760

PMID: 33479577

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/7816760View

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Abstract

The refilling of the lunar wake is relatively well explained by the theory of 1-D plasma expansion into a vacuum; however, the field-aligned wake potential is not a directly measured quantity, and thus, a statistical analysis of wake potentials at high altitudes has not been previously performed. In this study, we obtain the wake potential by comparing the field-aligned electron distributions inside and outside of the lunar wake measured by the two probes of the Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) mission. The derived potentials from ARTEMIS data vary with solar wind electron temperature and bulk flow velocity as the theory predicts. We also expand the 1-D plasma theory to 2-D in the plane of the interplanetary magnetic field and the solar wind velocity to examine how a tilted interplanetary magnetic field affects the wake potential structure. As the expansion time for the two sides of the wake differs, a wake potential asymmetry is developed in our model. This asymmetry is confirmed by the data-derived wake potentials. Moreover, ambipolar electric fields are obtained from both the modeled and data-derived wake potentials and show good agreement. Lastly, we examine the effects of the solar wind strahl-electron population on the wake potential structure, which appears to cause a net potential difference across the lunar shadow. This may imply that the disturbance of the wake plasma expansion extends farther outside the wake than previous plasma-expansion theories have predicted.

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Physical Sciences

Science & Technology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Mapping the Lunar Wake Potential Structure With ARTEMIS Data
Creators: Shaosui Xu - University of California, Berkeley
Andrew R. Poppe - University of California, Berkeley
Jasper S. Halekas - University of Iowa
David L. Mitchell - Univ Calif Berkeley, Space Sci Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
James P. McFadden - University of California, Berkeley
Yuki Harada - Kyoto University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, Vol.124(5), pp.3360-3377
DOI: 10.1029/2019JA026536
PMID: 33479577
PMCID: PMC7816760
NLM abbreviation: J Geophys Res Space Phys
ISSN: 2169-9380
eISSN: 2169-9402
Publisher: Amer Geophysical Union
Number of pages: 18
Grant note: NNX14AG16A; NNX15AH15A / NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) NAS5-02099 / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) German Ministry for Economy and Technology 50 OC 0302 / German Center for Aviation and Space (DLR); Helmholtz Association; German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
Language: English
Date published: 05/2019
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984429052402771

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