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Titan's Induced magnetosphere from plasma wave, magnetic field and particle observations
  • +15
  • Ronan Modolo,
  • Norberto Romanelli,
  • Cesar Bertucci,
  • J. J. Berthelier,
  • Patrick CANU,
  • R. Piberne,
  • Andrew J Coates,
  • Francois Leblanc,
  • Niklas J. T. Edberg,
  • Michiko W. Morooka,
  • Mika Katharina Göransdotter Holmberg,
  • Eduard Dubinin,
  • Leonardo H. Regoli,
  • William S Kurth,
  • Donald A. Gurnett,
  • Jan-Erik Wahlund,
  • Jack Hunter Waite,
  • Michele K. Dougherty
Ronan Modolo
UVSQ / LATMOS-IPSL / CNRS-INSU

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Norberto Romanelli
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Cesar Bertucci
Institute for Astronomy and Space Physics - IAFE
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J. J. Berthelier
UPMC
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Patrick CANU
Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas
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R. Piberne
LPP-Ecole Polytechnique
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Andrew J Coates
University College London
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Francois Leblanc
LATMOS/CNRS, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, IPSL
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Niklas J. T. Edberg
Swedish Institute of Space Physics
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Michiko W. Morooka
Swedish Institute of Space Physics
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Mika Katharina Göransdotter Holmberg
European Space Research and Technology Centre
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Eduard Dubinin
Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research
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Leonardo H. Regoli
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
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William S Kurth
University of Iowa
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Donald A. Gurnett
University of Iowa
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Jan-Erik Wahlund
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF)
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Jack Hunter Waite
Southwest Research Institute
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Michele K. Dougherty
Imperial College
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Abstract

Cassini plasma wave and charged particle observations are combined with magnetometer measurements to investigate Titan’s induced magnetosphere. Electric field emissions close to Titan are identified as upper hybrid resonance emissions, which provide a density estimate of Titan’s cold plasma. These observations have been combined with electron spectrometer measurements to build an integrated map of electron density in Titan’s near environment using observations from TA to T82 flybys, ie which includes flybys from the Cassini prime, equinox and part of the soltice mission. We identify a dense ionospheric region and an extended plasma wake with values ranging between 10-2 and 103 cm-3. Upstream of the induced magnetosphere, the presence of pickup ions in the positive hemisphere of the kronian plasma convective electric field are detected. The mass of the observed pickup corresponds to methane group ions, N2+ and HCNH+ ions as well as Titan’s protons and molecular hydrogen ions. These ions are progressively accelerated by the kronian background electric field and we estimate its intensity by reconstructing the energization of this population. We find values on the order of 0.7 mV/m , consistent with an average estimate of 0.61 mV/m deduced from ∼ |VxB| computation.