To understand and explain the Voyager 2 observations of Ganymede's wake-associated disturbances, an investigation of the electrodynamic interaction of the Jovian magnetospheric plasma with the satellite has been carried out. Two different aspects of the interaction are studied: (1) To see plasma kinematic effects during the interaction of the Jovian plasma and the expansion of the plasma into the cavity, particle-in-cell solutions of the electron and ion Vlasov equations are obtained. The disturbances of ions, potentials, and ion and electron thermal and drift energies in the wake region are obtained. (2) To provide explanations of the observed large radial spread of the disturbances, linear Kelvin-Helmholtz instability theory is applied to the plasma flowing past the boundary of the cavity. Theoretical calculations show that the ambient plasma flow deviates from corotational flow, in both magnitude and direction. Theoretical conditions for the existence of magnetosonic waves and transverse Alfv¿n waves are also examined. The effect of the distortion of the Jovian magnetic field lines due to the annular current sheet on the charged particle absorption by Ganymede is also examined. |