Dusty plasmas above the sunlit surface of Mercury

Abstract

Above the sunlit surface of Mercury, the properties and formation of dusty plasmas are investigated. It is demonstrated that the dusty plasmas are formed for subsolar angles exceeding approximately 76° due to photoelectric and electrostatic processes. As a result, the dusty plasmas are present in the polar regions of Mercury, characterized by latitudes of about 70° and above. The formation of dusty plasmas is also possible for lower latitudes, but only where the surface profile allows it. Plasmas above the sunlit surface of Mercury consist, in particular, of photoelectrons, electrons, and ions of the solar wind, and also charged dust particles. The distribution functions of photoelectrons near the surface of Mercury, as well as the altitude dependences of the number densities of dust particles, their charges and sizes, as well as electric fields, are obtained. The calculations are carried out which correspond to the position of Mercury at aphelion and perihelion of its orbit for the situations of dusty plasma location in the vicinity of magnetic poles of Mercury and in other regions. It is shown that there are qualitative differences between the dusty plasma systems of Mercury and the Moon related to the fact that Mercury has a magnetosphere and Mercury's orbit is one of the most eccentric of all planetary orbits in the Solar System. The effects of magnetic fields can slightly influence the dust particle transport and, correspondingly, the expansion of the region of the existence of dusty plasmas above the surface of Mercury due to the effect of dust particle transport is not so significant as at the Moon. Furthermore, due to the presence of Mercury's magnetosphere, the solar wind is important for the formation of dusty plasmas at Mercury only in the vicinity of the regions of the magnetic poles. In other regions of Mercury, in contrast to the situation at the Moon, the solar wind does not influence significantly the dusty plasma properties. The dusty plasma parameters are different in the cases of aphelion and perihelion of the orbit of Mercury.