Kinetic simulation of neutral∕ionized gas and electrically charged dust in the coma of comet 67P∕Churyumov-Gerasimenko

The cometary coma is a unique phenomenon in the solar system being a planetary atmosphere influenced by little or no gravity. As a comet approaches the sun, the water vapor with some fraction of other gases sublimate, generating a cloud of gas, ice and other refractory materials (rocky and organic dust) ejected from the surface of the nucleus. Sublimating gas molecules undergo frequent collisions and photochemical processes in the near‐nucleus region. Owing to its negligible gravity, comets produce a large and highly variable extensive dusty coma with a size much larger than the characteristic size of the cometary nucleus. The Rosetta spacecraft is en route to comet 67P/Churyumov‐Gerasimenko for a rendezvous, landing, and extensive orbital phase beginning in 2014. Both, interpretation of measurements and safety consideration of the spacecraft require modeling of the comet’s dusty gas environment. In this work we present results of a numerical study of multispecies gaseous and electrically charged dust environment of comet Chyuryumov‐Gerasimenko. Both, gas and dust phases of the coma are simulated kinetically. Photolytic reactions are taken into account. Parameters of the ambient plasma as well as the distribution of electric/magnetic fields are obtained from an MHD simulation [1] of the coma connected to the solar wind. Trajectories of ions and electrically charged dust grains are simulated by accounting for the Lorentz force and the nucleus gravity.

Comet 1P/Halley multifluid MHD model for the Giotto fly-by

The interaction of comets with the solar wind has been the focus of many studies including numerical modeling. We compare the results of our multifluid MHD simulation of comet 1P/Halley to data obtained during the flyby of the European Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft in 1986. The model solves the full set of MHD equations for the individual fluids representing the solar wind protons, the cometary light and heavy ions, and the electrons. The mass loading, charge-exchange, dissociative ion-electron recombination, and collisional interactions between the fluids are taken into account. The computational domain spans over several million kilometers, and the close vicinity of the comet is resolved to the details of the magnetic cavity. The model is validated by comparison to the corresponding Giotto observations obtained by the Ion Mass Spectrometer, the Neutral Mass Spectrometer, the Giotto magnetometer experiment, and the Johnstone Plasma Analyzer instrument. The model shows the formation of the bow shock, the ion pile-up, and the diamagnetic cavity and is able to reproduce the observed temperature differences between the pick-up ion populations and the solar wind protons. We give an overview of the global interaction of the comet with the solar wind and then show the effects of the Lorentz force interaction between the different plasma populations.

fMRI-Compatible Electromagnetic Haptic Interface

A new haptic interface device is suggested, which can be used for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. The basic component of this 1 DOF haptic device are two coils that produce a Lorentz force induced by the large static magnetic field of the MR scanner. A MR-compatible optical angular encoder and a optical force sensor enable the implementation of different control architectures for haptic interactions. The challenge was to provide a large torque, and not to affect image quality by the currents applied in the device. The haptic device was tested in a 3T MR scanner. With a current of up to 1A and a distance of 1m to the focal point of the MR-scanner it was possible to generate torques of up to 4 Nm. Within these boundaries image quality was not affected.