Investigation of the dynamics of nanometer-size dust particles in the inner heliosphere

Abstract:

The spatial and size distribution of submicron-sized interplanetary dust particles at 1 AU is highly variable due to the nature of its production and transport through the solar system. Nano-dust particles are thought to be produced by mutual collisions between interplanetary dust particles slowly spiraling toward the Sun and are accelerated outward to high velocities by interaction with the solar wind. The WAVES instruments on the two STEREO spacecraft reported the detection, strong temporal variation, and potentially high flux of these particles [Meyer-Vernet et al., 2009].

Simulations of nano-dust dynamics are performed to gain an understanding of their transport in the inner heliosphere and distribution near 1 AU where they can potentially be detected. Simulations show that the temporal variation in nano-dust detection, as suggested by the STEREO observations, can be described by the dust’s interaction with the complex structure of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) [Juhasz and Horanyi, 2013]. The dust trajectories and their distribution near Earth’s orbit is a function of the initial conditions of both nano-dust particles and the IMF. Le Chat et al. (2015) reported on the correlation between high nano-dust fluxes observed by STEREO and the observed Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs). We present the results from simulating nano-dust interaction with ICMEs that are modeled as magnetic clouds, and report that the dust trajectories and, thus, their distribution and velocities at 1 AU are significantly altered.