Related papers: Plasma refilling of the lunar wake: plasma-vacuum …
The solar wind plasma from the Sun interacts with the Moon, generating a wake structure behind it, since the Moon is to a good approximation an insulator, has no intrinsic magnetic field and a very thin atmosphere. The lunar wake in…
When the solar wind encounters the Moon, a plasma void forms downstream of it, known as the lunar wake. In regions where the magnetic field is quasi-parallel to the plasma-vacuum boundary normal, plasma refills the wake primarily along…
Bodies that lack a significant atmosphere and internal magnetic fields, such as the Moon and asteroids, can to a first approximation be considered passive absorbers of the solar wind. The solar wind ions and electrons directly impact the…
The solar wind wake behind the moon is studied with 1D electrostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations using a physical ion to electron mass ratio (unlike prior investigations); the simulations also apply more generally to supersonic flow…
Inferring electric potentials from electron phase space density measurements in the lunar wake is complicated by two challenges: the asymmetry between the sunward and anti-sunward sides of the wake driven by the solar wind strahl, and the…
We report the first observation of protons in the near (100--200 km from surface) and deeper (near anti-subsolar point) lunar plasma wake when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind velocity ($v_{sw}$) are parallel (aligned…
An object's wake in a plasma with small Debye length that drifts \emph{across} the magnetic field is subject to electrostatic electron instabilities. Such situations include, for example, the moon in the solar wind wake and probes in…
We study the interaction between the Moon and the solar wind using a three-dimensional hybrid plasma solver. The proton fluxes and electromagnetical fields are presented for typical solar wind conditions with different magnetic field…
A comprehensive theory is proposed to describe the propagation and absorption of ultra-intense, short laser pulse through the under-dense plasma. The kinetic aspects of plasma are fully incorporated using extensive particle-in-cell (PIC)…
In this work, we have considered the formation of warm plasma sheath in the vicinity of a wall in a plasma with considerable presence of dust particles. As an example, we have used the parameters relevant in case of lunar plasma sheath,…
The wake behind a large object (such as the moon) moving rapidly through a plasma (such as the solar wind) contains a region of depleted density, into which the plasma expands along the magnetic field, transverse to the flow. It is shown…
Ion pickup at the outer planets' active moons is a fundamental plasma process in which newly ionized particles from moon exospheres interact with the ambient corotating plasma and are accelerated to match the background flow. Spacecraft…
An electron injector concept for laser-plasma accelerator was developed in ref [1] and [2] ; it relies on the use of counter-propagating ultrashort laser pulses. In [2], the scheme is as follows: the pump laser pulse generates a large…
The expansion of a radial blast shell into an ambient plasma is modeled with a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The unmagnetized plasma consists of electrons and protons. The formation and evolution of an electrostatic shock is observed,…
This paper shows how the exposure of the Moon to the Earth's plasmasheet is subject to decadal variations due to lunar precession. The latter is a key property of the Moon's apparent orbit around the Earth - the nodes of that orbit precess…
In the pursuit of lunar exploration and the investigation of water presence on the lunar surface, a comprehensive understanding of plasma-surface interactions is crucial since the regolith's space weathering can create H$_2$O. However, the…
The relative motion of two interpenetrating streams of charged particles usually leads to the generation of two stream instability (TSI) and eventually result in the onset of non-linear plasma processes such as the turbulence or the plasma…
We examine with a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation the collision of two equally dense clouds of cold pair plasma. The clouds interpenetrate until instabilities set in, which heat up the plasma and trigger the formation of a pair of shocks.…
In this paper we show a plausible mechanism that could lead to the formation of the Dark Lanes in Lunar Swirls, and the electromagnetic shielding of the lunar surface that results in the preservation of the white colour of the lunar…
The localized deposition of the energy of a laser pulse, as it ablates a solid target, introduces high thermal pressure gradients in the plasma. The thermal expansion of this laser-heated plasma into the ambient medium (ionized residual…