The analysis of Titan’s physical surface using multifractal geometry methods

Abstract

Abstract Titan makes up 95% of the mass of all 82 satellites of Saturn. Titan’s diameter is 5152 km, which means that it is larger than the Moon by 50%, and it is also significantly larger than Mercury. On the satellite, a subsurface ocean is possible, the theory of the presence of which has already been advanced earlier by some scientists. It is located under a layer of ice and consists of 10% ammonia, which is a natural antifreeze for it and does not allow the ocean to freeze. On the one hand, the ocean contains a huge amount of salt, which makes the likelihood of life in it hardly possible. But on the other hand, since chemical processes constantly occur on Titan, forming molecules of complex hydrocarbon substances, this can lead to the emergence of the simplest forms of life. There are limitations on the probabilistic and statistical approaches, since not every process and not every result (form and structure of the system) is probabilistic in nature. In contrast to this, fractal analysis allows one to study the structure of complex objects, taking into account their qualitative specifics, for example, the relationship between the structure and the processes of its formation. When constructing a harmonic model of Titan, the method of decomposition of topographic information into spherical functions was used. As a result, based on the harmonic analysis of the Cassini mission data, a topographic model of Titan was created. In the final form, the model describing Titan’s surface includes the expansion of the height parameter depending on the spherical coordinates into a slowly converging regression series of spherical harmonics. For modeling surface details of the surface on a scale of 1 degree requires analysis of the (180 + 1)2 harmonic expansion coefficients. An over determined topographic information system was solved to meet the regression modelling conditions. In this case, a number of qualitative stochastic data, such as external measures, were used together with the standard postulation of the harmonic system of the Titan model. As a result of a sampling of self-similar regions (with close values of the self-similarity coefficients) on the surface of Titan, coinciding with the SRGB parameter (characterizes the color fractal dimension), the elements of the satellite’s surface were determined, which with a high degree of probability were evolutionarily formed under the action of the same selenochemical processes.