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Plasma-induced clearing and redistribution of material embedded in planetary magnetospheres
Engineering Physics Program and Astronomy Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Physics Department, New York University, New York, New York, USA
Engineering Physics Program and Astronomy Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
Charge exchange collisions between the ions trapped in a planetary magnetosphere and the ambient neutrals are a principal material loss process in evolving planetary systems (Johnson, 2004). Here we show that low energy charge exchange collisions, in which orbiting occurs, can drastically modify the redistribution and loss of materials in evolving planetary disks. Using Saturn as an example, these collisions can account for the fact that water products, produced primarily in the inner magnetosphere, are found to be the dominant ions throughout Saturn's magnetosphere.
Received 1 August 2005; accepted 9 November 2005; published 17 December 2005.
Citation: (2005), Plasma-induced clearing and redistribution of material embedded in planetary magnetospheres, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L24201, doi:10.1029/2005GL024275.
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