Dynamics of dust and meteoroids due to electromagnetic transport in the heliosphere

Abstract

ABSTRACT Observations of dust in the Solar system have indicated the existence of structures at higher ecliptic latitudes, the origin of which is still an ongoing debate. In a previous study, we studied how the interplanetary magnetic field affects the orbital motion of charged dust particles that are moving in co-orbital motion with Jupiter. Our findings revealed that the Lorentz force causes oscillations in orbital inclinations that lead to electromagnetic transport of the dust particles to higher ecliptic latitudes. In this work, using numerical simulations, we investigate how this transportation depends on orbital lifetime, strength of the background magnetic field, planetary mass, and distance from the Sun. In addition, we study the dynamics also outside resonance. We present our findings using the saturation curve, which gives a relation between the maximum amplitude in inclination with respect to the particle size ranging from 1 to 501 $\mu$m. We further study the influence of the solar radiation pressure, the Poynting–Robertson, and the solar wind effects on the shape of the saturation curve and find that a stronger gravitational influence of the planet leads to a steeper curve, decreasing the strength of the electromagnetic transport. The radiative forces lead to a gradual dampening of the latitudinal oscillations of particles inside resonance, while they are unchanged for objects outside of resonance. We argue that the dynamics of dust and meteoroids in the Solar system can only be understood by including space weathering effects.