Plasma densitites, flow and Solar EUV flux at comet 67P : A cross-calibration approach

• Context.During its two year mission at comet 67P, Rosetta nearly continuously monitored the inner coma plasma environment forgas production rates varying over three orders of magnitude, at distances to the nucleus from a few to a few hundred km. To achievethe best possible measurements, cross-calibration of the plasma instruments is needed.Aims.To provide a consistent plasma density data set for the full mission, in the process providing a statistical characterisation of theplasma processes in the inner coma and their evolution.Methods.We construct physical models for two different methods to cross-calibrate the spacecraft potential and the ion current asmeasured by the Rosetta Langmuir Probes (LAP) to the electron density as measured by the Mutual Impedance Probe (MIP). We alsodescribe the methods used to estimate spacecraft potential, and validate the results with the Ion Composition Analyser, (ICA).Results.We retrieve a continuous plasma density dataset for the entire cometary mission with a much improved dynamical rangecompared to any plasma instrument alone and, at times, improve the temporal resolution from 0.24-0.74 Hz to 57.8 Hz. The physicalmodel also yields, at 3 hour time resolution, ion flow speeds as well as a proxy for the solar EUV flux from the photoemission fromthe Langmuir Probes.Conclusions.We report on two independent estimates of the ion flow speed which are consistent with the bulk H2O+ion velocitiesas measured by ICA. We find the ion flow to be much faster than the neutral gas, lending further evidence that the ions are mostlycollisionally decoupled from the neutrals in the coma. Also, the measured EUV flux is perfectly consistent with independent measurements previously published in Johansson et al. (2017) and lends support for the conclusions drawn therein regarding an attenuationof solar EUV from a distant nanograin dust population between the comet and the Sun, when the comet activity was high. The newdensity dataset is consistent with the existing MIP density dataset, but facilitates plasma analysis at much shorter timescales, with anincreased temporal resolution of a factor of (up to) 240 and covers also long time periods where densities were too low to be measuredby MIP.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

plasmas

comets

comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Langmuir Probes

Fysik med inriktning mot rymd- och plasmafysik

Physics with specialization in Space and Plasma Physics

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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