Imperial College London

ProfessorMarinaGaland

Faculty of Natural SciencesDepartment of Physics

Professor in Planetary Science
 
 
 
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Contact

 

m.galand Website

 
 
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Location

 

Huxley BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Eriksson:2017:0004-6361/201630159,
author = {Eriksson, AI and Engelhardt, IAD and Andre, M and Bostrom, R and Edberg, NJT and Johansson, FL and Odelstad, E and Vigren, E and Wahlund, J-E and Henri, P and Lebreton, J-P and Miloch, WJ and Paulsson, JJP and Wedlund, CS and Yang, L and Karlsson, T and Jarvinen, R and Broiles, T and Mandt, K and Carr, CM and Galand, M and Nilsson, H and Norberg, C},
doi = {0004-6361/201630159},
journal = {Astronomy and Astrophysics},
title = {Cold and warm electrons at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201630159},
volume = {605},
year = {2017}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB - Context. Strong electron cooling on the neutral gas in cometary comae has been predicted for a long time, but actual measurements of low electron temperature are scarce.Aims. Our aim is to demonstrate the existence of cold electrons in the inner coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and show filamentation of this plasma.Methods. In situ measurements of plasma density, electron temperature and spacecraft potential were carried out by the Rosetta Langmuir probe instrument, LAP. We also performed analytical modelling of the expanding two-temperature electron gas.Results. LAP data acquired within a few hundred km from the nucleus are dominated by a warm component with electron temperature typically 5–10 eV at all heliocentric distances covered (1.25 to 3.83 AU). A cold component, with temperature no higher than about 0.1 eV, appears in the data as short (few to few tens of seconds) pulses of high probe current, indicating local enhancement of plasma density as well as a decrease in electron temperature. These pulses first appeared around 3 AU and were seen for longer periods close to perihelion. The general pattern of pulse appearance follows that of neutral gas and plasma density. We have not identified any periods with only cold electrons present. The electron flux to Rosetta was always dominated by higher energies, driving the spacecraft potential to order − 10 V.Conclusions. The warm (5–10 eV) electron population observed throughout the mission is interpreted as electrons retaining the energy they obtained when released in the ionisation process. The sometimes observed cold populations with electron temperatures below 0.1 eV verify collisional cooling in the coma. The cold electrons were only observed together with the warm population. The general appearance of the cold population appears to be consistent with a Haser-like model, implicitly supporting also the coupling of ions to the neutral gas. The expanding cold plasma is unstable, forming fil
AU - Eriksson,AI
AU - Engelhardt,IAD
AU - Andre,M
AU - Bostrom,R
AU - Edberg,NJT
AU - Johansson,FL
AU - Odelstad,E
AU - Vigren,E
AU - Wahlund,J-E
AU - Henri,P
AU - Lebreton,J-P
AU - Miloch,WJ
AU - Paulsson,JJP
AU - Wedlund,CS
AU - Yang,L
AU - Karlsson,T
AU - Jarvinen,R
AU - Broiles,T
AU - Mandt,K
AU - Carr,CM
AU - Galand,M
AU - Nilsson,H
AU - Norberg,C
DO - 0004-6361/201630159
PY - 2017///
SN - 0004-6361
TI - Cold and warm electrons at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
T2 - Astronomy and Astrophysics
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201630159
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/52804
VL - 605
ER -