DOI

  • Chaitanya Prasad Sishtla
  • Andrey Divin
  • Jan Deca
  • Vyacheslav Olshevsky
  • Stefano Markidis

Measurements from the Rosetta mission have shown a multitude of nonthermal electron distributions in the cometary environment, challenging the previously assumed plasma interaction mechanisms near a cometary nucleus. In this paper, we discuss electron trapping near a weakly outgassing comet from a fully kinetic (particle-in-cell) perspective. Using the electromagnetic fields derived from the simulation, we characterize the trajectories of trapped electrons in the potential well surrounding the cometary nucleus and identify the distinguishing features in their respective velocity and pitch angle distributions. Our analysis allows us to define a clear boundary in velocity phase space between the distributions of trapped and passing electrons.

Translated title of the contributionМоделирование захвата электронов в атмосфере слабой кометы
Original languageEnglish
Article number102904
JournalPhysics of Plasmas
Volume26
Issue number10
Early online date28 Oct 2019
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

    Research areas

  • Electromagnetic fields, Electron traps, Phase space methods, Plasma interactions

    Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics

ID: 49553670