Statistical Study of Mercury's Energetic Electron Events as Observed by the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer Instrument Onboard MESSENGER

Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics
Romina NikoukarRalph L McNutt

Abstract

We present results from a statistical analysis of Mercury's energetic electron (EE) events as observed by the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer instrument onboard the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. The main objective of this study is to investigate possible anisotropic behavior of EE events using multiple data sets from MESSENGER instruments. We study the data from the neutron spectrometer (NS) and the gamma-ray spectrometer anticoincidence shield (ACS) because they use the same type of borated plastic scintillator and, hence, they have very similar response functions, and their large surface areas make them more sensitive to low-intensity EE events than MESSENGER's particle instrumentation. The combined analysis of NS and ACS data reveals two different classes of energetic electrons: "Standard" events and "ACS-enhanced" events. Standard events, which comprise over 90% of all events, have signal sizes that are the same in both the ACS and NS. They are likely gyrating particles about Mercury's magnetic field following a 90° pitch angle distribution and are located in well-defined latitude and altitude regions within Mercury's magnetosphere. ACS-enhanced events, which compri...Continue Reading

References

Mar 24, 2005·Physical Review Letters·J F DrakeM Swisdak
Jul 12, 1974·Science·J A SimpsonP H Walpole
Jul 22, 2010·Science·James A SlavinThomas H Zurbuchen

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Software Mentioned

MCNPX
GRS
GEANT
MESSENGER
XRS

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