Characteristics of the dust-plasma interaction near Enceladus’ South Pole

We present RPWS Langmuir probe data from the third Enceladus flyby (E3) showing the presence of dusty plasma near Enceladus’ South Pole. There is a sharp rise in both the electron and ion number densities when the spacecraft traverses through Enceladus plume. The ion density near Enceladus is found to increase abruptly from about 10² cm⁻³ before the closest approach to 10⁵ cm⁻³ just 30 s after the closest approach, an amount two orders of magnitude higher than the electron density. Assuming that the inconsistency between the electron and ion number densities is due to the presence of dust particles that are collecting the missing electron charges, we present dusty plasma characteristics down to sub-micron particle sizes. By assuming a differential dust number density for a range in dust sizes and by making use of Langmuir probe data, the dust densities for certain lower limits in dust size distribution were estimated. In order to achieve the dust densities of micrometer and larger sized grains comparable to the ones reported in the literature, we show that the power law size distribution must hold down to at least 0.03 μm such that the total differential number density is dominated by the smallest sub-micron sized grains. The total dust number density in Enceladus’ plume is of the order of 10² cm⁻³ reducing to 1 cm⁻³ in the E-ring. The dust density for micrometer and larger sized grains is estimated to be about 10⁻⁴ cm⁻³ in the plume while it is about 10⁻⁶-10⁻⁷ cm⁻³ in the E-ring. Dust charge for micron sized grains is estimated to be about eight thousand electron charges reducing to below one hundred electron charges for 0.03 μm sized grains. The effective dusty plasma Debye length is estimated and compared with inter-grain distance as well as the electron Debye length. The maximum dust charging time of 1.4 h is found for 0.03 μm sized grains just 1 min before the closest approach. The charging time decreases substantially in the plume where it is only a fraction of a second for 1 μm sized grains, 1 s for 0.1 μm sized grains and about 10 s for 0.03 μm sized grains.     

Effects of two-temperature electrons, external oblique magnetic field, concentration of charged dust grains and higher-order nonlinearity on dust ion-acoustic solitary waves in Saturn's E-ring

The purpose of the present work is to investigate some nonlinear properties of the dust ion-acoustic (DIA) solitary waves in a four-component hot-magnetized dusty plasma consisting of charged dust grains, positively charged ions and two-temperature isothermal electrons. Applying a reductive perturbation theory, a nonlinear Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation for the first-order perturbed potential and a linear inhomogeneous KdV-type equation for the second-order perturbed potentials are derived. Stationary solutions of these coupled equations are obtained using a renormalization method. A method based on energy consideration is used to obtain a condition for stable solitons. The effects of two different types of isothermal electrons, external oblique magnetic field, concentration of negatively (positively) charged dust grains and higher-order nonlinearity on the nature of the DIA solitary waves are discussed. The numerical results are applied to Saturn's E-ring.     

Tidally Induced Volcanism

The dissipation of tidal energy causes the ongoing silicate volcanism on Jupiter's satellite, Io, and cryovolcanism almost certainly has resurfaced parts of Saturn's satellite, Enceladus, at various epochs distributed over the latter's history. The maintenance of tidal dissipation in Io and the occurrence of the same on Enceladus depends crucially on the maintenance of the respective orbital eccentricities by the existence of mean motion resonances with nearby satellites. A formation of the resonances among the Galilean satellites by differential expansion of the satellite orbits from tides raised on Jupiter by the satellites means the onset of the volcanism on Io could be relatively recent. If, on the other hand, the resonances formed by differential migration from resonant interactions of the satellites with the disk of gas and particles from which they formed, Io would have been at least intermittently volcanically active throughout its history. Either means of assembling the Galilean satellite resonances lead to the same constraint on the dissipation function of Jupiter Q _J 10⁶, where the currently high heat flux from Io seems to favor episodic heating as Io's eccentricity periodically increases and decreases. Either of the two models might account for sufficient tidal dissipation in the icy satellite Enceladus to cause at least occasional cryovolcanism over much of its history. However, both models are assumption-dependent and not secure, so uncertainty remains on how tidal dissipation resurfaced Enceladus.