Field-line Resonance Structures in Mercury Multi-ion Magnetosphere
Authors: Eun-Hwa Kim, et. al.
Abstract:
Recently, MESSENGER spacecraft detected transverse waves at Mercury's inner magnetosphere. The magnetic
field fluctuations of theses waves are approximately perpendicular to the gradient of magnetic field magnitude
which is similar to the field-line resonance characteristics predicted by numerical simulations in two-ion
plasmas. In this paper, we perform a wave simulation in a three-ion plasma to consider the effect of multiple
heavy ions at Mercury. Because recently observed wave frequencies are near the He+ , He2+ and H+ , we adopt
multi-ion plasmas that contain H+ , He2+ , and He+ . The simulation results show that several resonant waves
between the ion gyrofrequencies can occur at the same location and also show the modulation of amplitude in
time histories. Therefore, the simulation results suggest that it could be possible to observe two or three different
resonant frequencies at certain locations in Mercury's magnetosphere.
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Submitted to: Earth, Planets, Space (June, 2013)
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