Suprathermal particles in the planetary atmospheres

A non-equilibrium state of the atmospheric multi-component gas as an open thermodynamical system is triggered and maintained by the incident solar EUV and corpuscular radiation, with the involvement of successive collisional relaxation and numerous chemical reactions responsible for the system evolution. The original photolytic and energetic electron impact processes of interaction and the physical and chemical evolutionary processes can be described by a set of nonlinear Boltzmann type equations with the source term. Instead of a direct solution of these equations facing many obstacles, a special technique of stochastic simulation and Monte-Carlo algorithms were used for the numerical computer evaluation of such a system. This powerful technique allowed to study in detail the non-equilibrium state of the rarefied atmospheric gas at both microscopic (molecular) and macroscopic (continuum) levels and, in particular, to estimate the input of nonthermal particles into the composition, energetics, and dynamics of the planetary upper atmospheres. The main objectives were to reveal specific effects of the processes of non-equilibrium kinetics in terms of their domain and/or significant contribution to the macroscopic state of the atmospheric system. These included:

-the detailed quantitative study of the kinetics of photolysis and energetic electron impacts involving estimates of the dissociation and ionization production rates and formation of molecules and atoms in different states of excitation:

  • Shematovich, V.I.

      Numerical stochastic simulation of kinetics of atmospheric photochemistry.

      In: Marov M. (Ed.) Mathematical problems of applied aeronomy, 1987, Keldysh Inst. of Applied Math., Moscow, 199-209, (in Russian).

-the multichannel processes of the formation, collisional relaxation, and transport of the "hot" particles of photochemical origin (superthermal H, C, N, and O) leading to the formation of hot planetary coronas:

  • Shematovich, V. I.; Bisikalo, D. V.; Marov, M. Ya.

      Kinetic approach to the mathematical modelling of collisional physical and chemical processes in planetary atmospheres (abstract).

      In: Rarefied gas dynamics; Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium, Aachen, Germany, July 8-14, 1990.

      1991, Weinheim, Germany and New York, VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, p. 345-352.

  • Marov, M. Ia.; Shematovich, V. I.; Bisikalo, D. V.

      Numerical kinetic simulation of the upper atmosphere photochemistry and dynamics (abstract).

     Advances Space Res., 1992, 12, 303.

  • Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V., and Gerard J.-C.

      Superthermal particles in the planetary atmosphere.

      In: Massevitch A.G. (Ed.) Non-stable processes in the Universe, Moscow, Cosmoinform, 230-260, (in Russian).

  • Marov, M.Ya., Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V.

      Nonequilibrium processes in the planetary and cometary atmospheres. A kinetic approach to modeling.

      Space Science Reviews, 1996, 76, Nos. 1/2, 1-202.

  • Marov, M.Ya., Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V. and Gerard J.-C.

      Nonequilibrium processes in the planetary and cometary atmospheres: Theory and Applications.

      1997, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 293 pp.

Earth:

-the photochemistry of odd-nitrogen and its influence on the composition of the lower thermosphere of the Earth:

  • Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V., and Gerard, J.-C.

Non-thermal nitrogen atoms in the earth's thermosphere. I - Kinetics of hot N(4S) (abstract).

      Geophysical Research Letters, 1991, 18, 1691.   

 

  • Gerard, J.-C., Shematovich, V.I., and Bisikalo D.V.

Non-thermal nitrogen atoms in the earth's thermosphere. II - A source of nitric oxide (abstract).

      Geophysical Research Letters, 1991,18, 1695.

 

  • Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V., and Gerard, J.-C.

      The thermospheric odd nitrogen photochemistry : role of non-thermal N(4S) atoms (abstract).

      Ann. Geophys., 1992, 10, 792.

 

  • Gerard, J.C., Shematovich, V.I., and Bisikalo, D.V.

      Effect of hot N(4S) atoms on the NO solar cycle variation in the lower thermosphere(abstract).

      J. Geophys. Res., 1993, 98, 11581.

 

  • Gerard, J.C., Shematovich, V.I., and Bisikalo, D.V.

      The role of fast N(4S) atoms and photoelectrons on the distribution of NO in the thermosphere(abstract).

       In:  The Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere: A Review of Experiment and Theory, Geophysical Monograph 87,

      1995, American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C., 235.

 

  • Gerard, J.C., Shematovich, V.I., Bisikalo, D.V., and Duff, J.W.

      An updated model of the hot nitrogen atom kinetics and thermospheric nitric oxide(abstract).

            J. Geophys. Res., 1997, 102, No.A1, 285.

TITAN:

- kinetics and dynamics of hot nitrogen in the upper atmosphere:

  • Shematovich V.I.

      Kinetic modeling of superthermal nitrogen atoms in the Titan's atmosphere.I. Sources ( abstract).

      Solar System Research (English translation of "Astronomicheskij Vestnik"), 1998,32, No.5 , 384.

  • Lara L.-M., Lellouch E., and Shematovich V.I.

      Titan's atmospheric haze: the case for HCN incorporation (abstract).

      Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1999, 341, 312-317.

COMETS:

-the kinetic effects and peculiarities of the subliming gas flow in the near-surface (Knudsen) layer of the cometary nucleus:

·       Bisikalo, D. V.; Marov, M. Ya.; Shematovich, and V. I.; Strel'Nitskij, V. S.

      The flow of the subliming gas in the near-nuclear (Knudsen) layer of the cometary coma(abstract).

      Advances Space Res., 1989, 9, 53.

  • Pyarnpuu, A.A., Shematovich, V.I., and Svirschevsky S.B.

      Kinetic investigations of the near-surface phenomena in the gas and dust envelopes of small celestial bodies.

      In: Rarefied Gas Dynamics-19 (ed. by J. Harvey and G. Lord), 1995, Oxford, University Press, v.II, 1079.

-the photochemistry and dynamics of the rarefied gas in the inner cometary coma:

·       Bisikalo, D. V.; Shematovich, V. I.

      Numerical modeling of the nonequilibrium flow of a rarefied gas in the inner coma of a comet (abstract).

      Solar System Research (English translation of "Astonomicheskij Vestnik"), 1999, 33, No.1, 36.

·       Pyarnpuu, A.A., Shematovich, V.I., Svirschevsky S.B., and Titov E.V.

      Nonequilibrium jet flows in the coma of a comet

      In: Rarefied Gas Dynamics 20 (ed. by Shen Ching), 1997, Beijing, Peking University Press, 555-560.