Micrometeoroid infall onto Saturn’s rings constrains their age to no more than a few hundred million years

There is ongoing debate as to whether Saturn’s main rings are relatively young or ancient— having been formed shortly after Saturn or during the Late Heavy Bombardment. The rings are mostly water-ice but are polluted by non-icy material with a volume fraction ranging from ∼0.1 to 2%. Continuous bombardment by micrometeoroids exogenic to the Saturnian system is a source of this non-icy material. Knowledge of the incoming mass flux of these pollutants allows estimation of the rings’ exposure time, providing a limit on their age. Here we report the final measurements by Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer of the micrometeoroid flux into the Saturnian system. Several populations are present, but the flux is dominated by low-relative velocity objects such as from the Kuiper belt. We find a mass flux between 6.9 · 10−17 and 2.7 · 10−16 kg m−2s−1 from which we infer a ring exposure time ≲100 to 400 million years in support of recent ring formation scenarios

The growth of cubic CdS on InP(110) studied in situ by Raman spectroscopy

CdS was deposited onto clean cleaved InP(110) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using a growth rate of 0.2 monolayers/min and a substrate temperature of 440 K (510 K). Raman spectra were taken in situ of the clean InP surface and after each evaporation step using an Ar+ ion laser as a light source. Due to this resonant excitation scattering signals originating from the CdS deposition are observed at coverages as low as 2 monolayers (ML). The number of phonon peaks observed and their selection rules reveal that the cubic modification is present. The spectra are dominated at all coverages by the longitudinal optical (LO) and 2LO phonon scattering intensities and the variation of the 2LO/LO intensity ratio with CdS deposition indicates changes in the electronic structure of the growing CdS. Another spectral feature in the Raman spectra is attributed to a chemically reacted layer at the interface most likely consisting of an In–S compound. The intensity of this feature is found to depend critically on the growth parameters, in particular the substrate temperature, but also on the operating time of the MBE cell. The amount of reaction at the interface also influences the critical CdS film thickness and the development of the 2LO/LO ratio. The results are discussed taking complementary photoluminescence, x‐ray diffraction, and photoemission data into account

Charge Separation and Isolation in Water and Ice Particles on Strong Impacts

Tarrasó, Olga;Fuente Fuente, Carlos;Reventós, Manue

The production of platinum-coated silicate nanoparticle aggregates for use in hypervelocity impact experiments

We present a method for producing metal-coated low-density (?3) aggregate silicate dust particles for use in hypervelocity impact (HVI) experiments. Particles fabricated using the method are shown to have charged and electrostatically accelerated in the Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik (MPI-K) 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator, allowing the production of impact ionization mass spectra of silicate particles (impacting at velocities ranging from ?1 to >30 km s?1, corresponding to sizes of >1 ?m to <0.1 ?m) using the Large Area Mass Analyser (LAMA) instrument, designed for cosmic dust detection in space. Potential uses for the coated grains, such as in the calibration of aerogel targets similar to those used on the Stardust spacecraft, are also discussed

Modelling CDA mass spectra

We present the initial results from a simulation of ion behaviour within Cassini's cosmic dust analyser (CDA) instrument, using an in-house ion dynamics code. This work is to enable and enhance the detailed interpretation of dust impact ionisation mass spectra returned from the Saturnian system. Early work has already provided insights into the properties of the impact plasma in both low- and high-velocity impacts. We find that the isotropic emission of ions from the impact plasma successfully reproduces features seen in flight spectra and that the emitted ions have a higher range of energies (tens to hundreds of eV) than previously reported in some studies. Using these new ion characteristics, we have successfully modelled CDA flight mass spectra

Probing IMF using nanodust measurements from inside Saturn's magnetosphere

We present a new concept of monitoring the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) by using in situ measurements of nanodust stream particles in Saturn's magnetosphere. We show that the nanodust detection pattern obtained inside the magnetosphere resembles those observed in interplanetary space and is associated with the solar wind compression regions. Our dust dynamics model reproduces the observed nanodust dynamical properties as well as the detection pattern, suggesting that the ejected stream particles can reenter Saturn's magnetosphere at certain occasions due to the dynamical influence from the time‐varying IMF. This method provides information on the IMF direction and a rough estimation on the solar wind compression arrival time at Saturn. Such information can be useful for studies related to the solar wind‐magnetosphere interactions, especially when the solar wind parameters are not directly available. Key Points A new method to probe IMF with nanodust measurements inside the magnetosphere Under changing IMF, ejected nanoparticles can re‐enter Saturn‐s magnetosphere IMF direction and solar wind compression arrival time can be derivedPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99078/1/grl50604.pd