Evolution of Dust Particle Orbits under the Influence of Solar Wind Outflow Asymmetries and the Formation of the Zodiacal Dust Cloud

Abstract

The secular orbital evolution of zodiacal dust particles is mainly influenced by the electromagnetic and the plasma Poynting-Robertson effects. Whereas the first effect is radially symmetric, the second one, caused by the dynamical friction of the dust particles in the ambient solar wind flow, depends on heliographic latitude. This is because the solar wind appears to have pronounced mass and momentum flow variations with respect to heliographic latitudes, with mass flows decreasing by about 50% from the ecliptic toward the poles. We take into account related asymmetries in the plasma Poynting-Robertson effect and study orbital evolution of dust particles orbiting with different inclinations. We derive equations describing the secular changes of the orbital elements under these conditions. We show that the radial migration rates are greater by about 5 to 10% for particles close to the ecliptic as compared to those at higher inclinations. This leads to typical changes in the distribution of inclinations with decreasing semimajor axes of the particles and also shows that the dust distribution function cannot be factored into parts solely dependent on radial distance or inclination alone. Furthermore, the kinetic equation for the distribution function of dust particles is solved numerically, yielding the distribution in orbital element space. The spatial density of the particles can then be found as an integral over this distribution function after application of a Jacobian transformation of element space differentials into configuration space differentials and can be compared with earlier results. Some observational consequences are drawn from this comparison and are discussed in some more detail. It is also pointed out that the plasma Poynting-Robertson effect in a two-temperature solar wind produces normal components of perturbation forces and thus tends to change the inclination of the dust particle orbits. This is of special importance in the solar wind regime inside the critical point where low-Mach-number flows prevail.