An analytical model of sub‐Alfvénic moon‐plasma interactions with application to the hemisphere coupling effect

Abstract

AbstractWe develop a new analytical model of the Alfvén wing that is generated by the interaction between a planetary moon's ionosphere and its magnetospheric environment. While preceding analytical approaches assumed the obstacle's height‐integrated ionospheric conductivities to be spatially constant, the model presented here can take into account a continuous conductance profile that follows a power law. The electric potential in the interaction region, determining the electromagnetic fields of the Alfvén wing, can then be calculated from an Euler‐type differential equation. In this way, the model allows to include a realistic representation of the “suspension bridge”‐like conductance profile expected for the moon's ionosphere. The major drawback of this approach is its restriction to interaction scenarios where the ionospheric Pedersen conductance is large compared to the Hall conductance, and thus, the Alfvénic perturbations are approximately symmetric between the planet‐facing and the planet‐averted hemispheres of the moon. The model is applied to the hemisphere coupling effect observed at Enceladus, i.e., to the surface currents and the associated magnetic discontinuities that arise from a north‐south asymmetry of the obstacle to the plasma flow. We show that the occurrence of this effect is very robust against changes in the conductance profile of Enceladus' plume, and we derive upper limits for the strength of the magnetic field jumps generated by the hemisphere coupling effect. During all 11 reported detections of the hemisphere coupling currents at Enceladus, the observed magnetic field jumps were clearly weaker than the proposed limits. Our findings are also relevant for future in situ studies of putative plumes at the Jovian moon Europa.