The effect of surface topography on the lunar photoelectron sheath and electrostatic dust transport |
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| Authors: | Andrew R Poppe Marcus Piquette Alexandre Likhanskii Mihály Horányi |
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| Institution: | 1. Space Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA;2. Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, UCB 392, Boulder, CO 80303, USA;3. Tech-X Corporation, 5621 Arapahoe Ave., Suite A, Boulder, CO 80303, USA;4. Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA;5. NASA Lunar Science Institute, Mountain View, CA 94089, USA |
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| Abstract: | The dayside near-surface lunar plasma environment is electrostatically complex, due to the interaction between solar UV-induced photoemission, the collection of ambient ions and electrons, and the presence of micron and sub-micron sized dust grains. Further complicating this environment, although less well understood in effect, is the presence of surface relief, typically in the form of craters and/or boulders. It has been suggested that such non-trivial surface topography can lead to complex electrostatic potentials and fields, including “mini-wakes” behind small obstacles to the solar wind flow and “supercharging” near sunlit-shadowed boundaries (Criswell, D.R., De, B.R. 1977]. J. Geophys. Res. 82 (7); De, B.R., Criswell, D.R. 1977]. J. Geophys. Res. 82 (7); Farrell, W.M., Stubbs, T.J., Vondrak, R.R., Delory, G.T., Halekas, J.S. 2007]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34; Wang, X., Horányi, M., Sternovsky, Z., Robertson, S., Morfill, G.E. 2007]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L16104). In this paper, we present results from a three-dimensional, self-consistent, electrostatic particle-in-cell code used to model the dayside near-surface lunar plasma environment over a variety of local times with the presence of a crater. Additionally, we use the particle-in-cell model output to study the effect of surface topography on the dynamics of electrostatic dust transport, with the goal of understanding previous observations of dust dynamics on the Moon and dust ponding on various asteroids. |
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