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“Phobos events”—Signatures of solar wind interaction with a gas torus?

Earth, Planets and Space volume 50, pages 453–462 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Following recent simulations of the Phobos dust belt formation (Krivov and Hamilton, 1997), the effective dust-induced charge density as estimated is too small to account for the significant solar wind (sw) plasma and magnetic field perturbations observed by the Phobos-2 spacecraft in 1989 near the crossings of the Phobos orbit. In this paper the sw interaction with the Phobos neutral gas torus is re-investigated in a two-ion plasma model in which the newly created ions are treated as unmagnetized, forming a beam (not a ring beam) in the sw frame. A linear instability analysis based on both a cold fluid and a kinetic approach shows that electromagnetic ion beam waves in the whistler range of frequencies, driven most unstable at oblique propagation and appearing as almost purely growing waves in the beam frame, aquire high growth rates and provide a likely mechanism to cause the observed events.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, 14482, Potsdam, Germany

    K. Baumgärtel

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, 37191, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

    K. Sauer & E. Dubinin

  3. Institute of Space Research, 117810, Moscow, Russia

    E. Dubinin

  4. Centre d’Etude des Environments Terrestre et Planetaires, 78140, Velizy, France

    V. Tarrasov

  5. Lviv Centre of the Institute of Space Research, 290601, Lviv, Ukraine

    V. Tarrasov

  6. Space and Atmospheric Physics, Imperial College, London, SW72AZ, UK

    M. Dougherty

  7. International Space Science Institute (ISSI), 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    K. Baumgärtel, K. Sauer, E. Dubinin & V. Tarrasov

Authors
  1. K. Baumgärtel
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  2. K. Sauer
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  3. E. Dubinin
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  4. V. Tarrasov
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  5. M. Dougherty
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Correspondence to K. Baumgärtel.

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Baumgärtel, K., Sauer, K., Dubinin, E. et al. “Phobos events”—Signatures of solar wind interaction with a gas torus?. Earth Planet Sp 50, 453–462 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352133

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352133

Keywords

  • Solar Wind
  • Solar Wind Interaction
  • Total Charge Density
  • Beam Frame
  • Proton Gyrofrequency