The importance of monopole antennas for dust observations: Why Wind/WAVES does not detect nanodust

Meyer‐Vernet, N.; Moncuquet, M.; Issautier, Karine; Lecacheux, A.

doi:10.1002/2014gl059988

Cited by 43 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…For instance, processes producing a positive voltage pulse on a single monopole (or one arm of a dipole) have been observed on S/WAVES [ Zaslavsky et al , ; Le Chat et al , ] and WIND/WAVES [ Malaspina et al , ] and cannot be explained by the theory developed in this article. Physical mechanisms have been proposed to explain STEREO's [ Pantellini et al , ] and WIND's [ Meyer‐Vernet et al , ] observations, but work still remains to provide a complete modeling of these single‐antenna pulses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floating potential perturbations due to micrometeoroid impacts: Theory and application to S/WAVES data

Zaslavsky

2015

JGR Space Physics

128

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In situ observation of dust grains from various origins is routinely performed by space missions equipped with radio instruments. These measurements consist in observations of voltage pulses or their spectral signature. It has for long been proposed that one of the mechanisms able to produce these pulses is the collection by the spacecraft of electric charges generated by impact ionization. Here for the first time, a complete theoretical model of how pulses are generated by charge collection is proposed. In the solar wind at 1 AU, the pulses are shown to be shaped by local plasma and photoelectron parameters. However, the situation can be different in hotter or denser plasma environments. We use the data provided by the STEREO/WAVES (S/WAVES) radio instrument onboard the twin STEREO spacecraft to validate our model. We find that the observations indeed strongly support the theory. The proposed model is an important step forward, since it makes it possible to reproduce the shape, timescales, and amplitudes of pulses generated by dust impacts in various space environments. Such a model can be used to infer the dust detection abilities of radio instruments onboard different spacecraft and can help the design of dust detection optimized radio instruments for future missions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floating potential perturbations due to micrometeoroid impacts: Theory and application to S/WAVES data

Zaslavsky

2015

JGR Space Physics

128

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“…The coupling efficiency of this mechanism is much smaller than the differential charging of antenna elements for the case of long dipole antenna [ Oberc , ]. Meyer‐Vernet et al . [] interpreted the dipole signal as the voltage jump on the antenna element induced by escaping charges. Their new mechanism is consistent with the amplitude and polarity of the voltage pulses observed on WIND when micron‐sized dust particles impact the spacecraft [ Malaspina et al ., ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Properties of dust particles near Saturn inferred from voltage pulses induced by dust impacts on Cassini spacecraft

Gurnett

Kŭrth

et al. 2014

JGR Space Physics

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The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument can detect dust particles when voltage pulses induced by the dust impacts are observed in the wideband receiver. The size of the voltage pulse is proportional to the mass of the impacting dust particle. For the first time, the dust impacts signals measured by dipole and monopole electric antennas are compared, from which the effective impact area of the spacecraft is estimated to be 4 m 2 . In the monopole mode, the polarity of the dust impact signal is determined by the spacecraft potential and the location of the impact (on the spacecraft body or the antenna), which can be used to statistically infer the charge state of the spacecraft. It is shown that the differential number density of the dust particles near Saturn can be characterized as a power law dn/dr ∝ r μ , where μ~À 4 and r is the particle size. No peak is observed in the size distribution, contrary to the narrow size distribution found by previous studies. The RPWS cumulative dust density is compared with the Cosmic Dust Analyzer High Rate Detector measurement. The differences between the two instruments are within the range of uncertainty estimated for RPWS measurement. The RPWS onboard dust recorder and counter data are used to map the dust density and spacecraft charging state within Saturn's magnetosphere.

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“…It has been suggested [ Meyer‐Vernet et al ., ] that the thin Wind antennas are insensitive to the Pantellini‐Zaslavsky process [ Pantellini et al , , ; Zaslavsky et al , ], and that this process detects nanodust. Pantellini et al [] have given an order of magnitude quantification of this process, the disordering of emitted photoelectrons so that they do not return to the antenna.…”

Section: Risetime and A Search For Nanodustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We note that Malaspina et al [] have analyzed the Wind data with an interpretation based on the cloud picture, while Meyer‐Vernet et al . [e.g., ] have considered both mechanisms in a series of papers, establishing a need to distinguish the relative importance of these mechanisms. In section 6, the physics of impacts described in section 4 is applied to a search for entrained particles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust impact signals on the wind spacecraft

2016

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We analyze waveforms recorded by the Time Domain Sampler of the WAVES experiment on Wind which are similar to impulsive waveforms observed by the S/WAVES experiment on STEREO. These have been interpreted as dust impacts by Meyer‐Vernet et al. and M. L. Kaiser and K. Goetz and extensively analyzed by Zaslavsky et al. The mechanism for coupling the emission to the antennas to produce an electrical signal is still not well understood, however. One suggested mechanism for coupling of the impact to the antenna is that the spacecraft body changes potential with respect to the surrounding plasma but the antennas do not (the body mechanism). Another class of mechanisms, with several forms, is that the charge of the emitted cloud interacts with the antennas. The Wind data show that both are operating. The time domain shapes of the dust pulses are highly variable but we have little understanding of what provides these shapes. One feature of the STEREO data has been interpreted as impacts from high velocity nanoparticles entrained by the solar wind. We have not found evidence for fast nanodust in the Wind data. An appreciable fraction of the impacts observed on Wind is consistent with interstellar dust. The impact rates do not follow a Poisson distribution, expected for random independent events, and this is interpreted as bunching. We have not succeeded in relating this bunching to known meteor showers, and they do not repeat from 1 year to the next. The data suggest bunching by fields in the heliosphere.

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The importance of monopole antennas for dust observations: Why Wind/WAVES does not detect nanodust

Cited by 43 publications

References 32 publications

Floating potential perturbations due to micrometeoroid impacts: Theory and application to S/WAVES data

Floating potential perturbations due to micrometeoroid impacts: Theory and application to S/WAVES data

Properties of dust particles near Saturn inferred from voltage pulses induced by dust impacts on Cassini spacecraft

Dust impact signals on the wind spacecraft

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