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Delamere & Bagenal 2004
Delamere, P.A. and Bagenal, F. (2004). Pluto's kinetic interaction with the solar wind. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi: 10.1029/2003GL018122. issn: 0094-8276.

Pluto's interaction with the solar wind is determined by photoionization of escaping neutrals, the spatial extent of which depends on the magnitude of the atmospheric escape, and is characterized as Venus-like to comet-like for small to large escape rates. The weak magnetic field at >30 AU means that ion kinetic effects play a crucial role at Pluto given both large ion gyroradii and upstream ion inertial lengths that are comparable to the size of the obstacle (2--4 RP). The nature of this highly kinetic interaction has been studied using a three-dimensional hybrid code (particle ions, fluid electrons). For small, but plausible, neutral escape rates we find that a bow shock structure forms with considerable upstream asymmetry and the velocity distribution of heated protons in the shock region is characterized as a partial ring beam. The downstream wake is highly structured with a density enhanced arm of deflected solar wind protons.

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Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Solar wind interactions with unmagnetized bodies, Space Plasma Physics, Charged particle motion and acceleration, Space Plasma Physics, Kinetic and MHD theory, Space Plasma Physics, Neutral particles, Space Plasma Physics, Numerical simulation studies
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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