Electrostatic Effects and Formation of Dusty Plasma above the Surface of Enceladus

Abstract

A mechanism of formation of plasma-dust system above the surface of Enceladus, the Saturn moon, illuminated by the solar radiation is proposed. It is demonstrated that the photoelectric effect caused by the sunlight and the influence of the solar-wind plasma create conditions for lifting of dust particles above the surface of the moon as a result of electrostatic repulsion. Based on a self-consistent model describing the electrostatic field and plasma components, including photoelectrons emitted from the Enceladus surface and those emitted from the surface of the dust particles, distribution functions of photoelectrons, dust particles, and their electrostatic charges are determined as functions of altitude and the angle between the local normal and the direction to the Sun. Also determined are the altitude profiles of the electrostatic fields for the corresponding angles between the local normal and the direction of the solar radiation. It is demonstrated that the photoelectric effect plays an important role in formation of dusty plasma near the Enceladus surface despite considerable distance from the Sun. It is established that concentration of photoelectrons above the Enceladus surface can exceed concentration of electrons and ions of the solar wind by an order of magnitude, and the size of the levitating particles is larger than the characteristic size of dust particles lifted above the surface of the Moon due to the fact that Enceladus is much smaller than the Moon. On the contrary, the size of particles levitating above Enceladus is much smaller than the size of particles levitating above the surface of celestial objects smaller than the Enceladus, e.g., the Martian satellites Phobos and Deimos.