Abstract
The European Space Agency/Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has provided several hundred observations of the cometary diamagnetic cavity induced by the interaction between outgassed cometary particles, cometary ions, and the solar wind magnetic field. Here we present the first electric field measurements of four preperihelion and postperihelion cavity crossings on 28 May 2015 and 17 February 2016, using the dual-probe electric field mode of the Langmuir probe (LAP) instrument of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium. We find that on large scales, variations in the electric field fluctuations capture the cavity and boundary regions observed in the already well-studied magnetic field, suggesting the electric field mode of the LAP instrument as a reliable tool to image cavity crossings. In addition, the LAP electric field mode unravels for the first time extremely low-frequency waves within two cavities. These low-frequency electrostatic waves are likely triggered by lower-hybrid waves observed in the surrounding magnetized plasma.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3854-3864 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| Early online date | 5 May 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 May 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Comet 67P
- Diamagnetic cavity
- Low-frequency waves
- ESA/Rosetta
- Langmuir probe
- Plasma measurements