Baptiste Cecconi

and 26 more

The MASER (Measuring, Analysing and Simulating Radio Emissions) project provides a comprehensive infrastructure dedicated to low frequency radio emissions (typically < 50 to 100 MHz). The four main radio sources observed in this frequency are the Earth, the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn. They are observed either from ground (down to 10 MHz) or from space (down to a few kHz). Ground observatories are more sensitive than space observatories and capture high resolution data streams (up to a few TB per day for modern instruments). Conversely, space-borne instruments can observe below the ionospheric cut-off (10 MHz) and can be placed closer to the studied object. Several tools have been developed in the last decade for sharing space physcis data. Data visualization tools developed by the CDPP (http://cdpp.eu, Centre de Données de la Physique des Plasmas, in Toulouse, France) and the University of Iowa (Autoplot, http://autoplot.org) are available to display and analyse space physics time series and spectrograms. A planetary radio emission simulation software is developed in LESIA (ExPRES: Exoplanetary and Planetary Radio Emission Simulator). The VESPA (Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access) provides a search interface that allows to discover data of interest for scientific users, and is based on IVOA standards (astronomical International Virtual Observatory Alliance). The University of Iowa also develops Das2server that allows to distribute data with adjustable temporal resolution. MASER is making use of all these tools and standards to distribute datasets from space and ground radio instruments available from the Observatoire de Paris, the Station de Radioastronomie de Nançay and the CDPP deep archive. These datasets include Cassini/RPWS, STEREO/Waves, WIND/Waves, Ulysses/URAP, ISEE3/SBH, Voyager/PRA, Nançay Decameter Array (Routine, NewRoutine, JunoN), RadioJove archive, swedish Viking mission, Interball/POLRAD… MASER also includes a Python software library for reading raw data. This work is supported by CDPP, CNES, PADC and Europlanet-2020-RI. The Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654208.
The present study aims at characterizing the habitability conditions of exoplanets with an Earth-like magnetosphere inside the habitable zone of M and F stars, caused by the direct deposition of the stellar wind on the exoplanet surface. Also, the radio emission generated by exoplanets with a Earth-like magnetosphere is calculated for different space weather conditions. The study is based on a set of MHD simulations performed by the code PLUTO. Exoplanets hosted by M stars at $0.2$ au are protected from the stellar wind during regular and CME-like space weather conditions if the star rotation period is slower than $3$ days. Exoplanets hosted by a F stars at $\geq 2.5$ au are protected during regular space weather conditions, but a stronger magnetic field compared to the Earth is mandatory if the exoplanet is close to the inner edge of the star habitable zone ($2.5$ au) during CMEs. The range of radio emission values calculated in the simulations are consistent with the scaling proposed by \citeA{Zarka8} during regular and common CME-like space weather conditions. If the radio telescopes measure a relative low radio emission signal with small variability from an exoplanet, that may indicate favorable exoplanet habitability conditions. The radio emission power calculated for exoplanets with an Earth-like magnetosphere is in the range of $3 \cdot 10^{7}$ to $2 \cdot 10^{10}$ W for SW dynamic pressures between $1.5$ to $100$ nPa and IMF intensities between $50$ - $250$ nT, and is below the sensitivity threshold of present radio telescopes at parsec distances.

Philippe Zarka

and 7 more

Reanalyzing Cassini radio observations performed during Jupiter’s flyby of 2000-2001, we study the internal (rotational) versus external (solar wind) control of Jupiter’s radio emissions, from kilometer to decameter wavelengths, and the relations between the different auroral radio components. For that purpose, we build a database of the occurrence of Jovian auroral radio components bKOM, HOM and DAM observed by Cassini, and then frequency-longitude stacked plots of the polarized intensity of these radio components. Comparing the results obtained inbound and outbound, as a function of the Observer’s or Sun’s longitude, we find that HOM & DAM are dominantly rotation-modulated (i.e. emitted from searchlight-like sources fixed in Jovian longitude), whereas bKOM is modulated more strongly by the solar wind than by the rotation (i.e. emitted from sources more active within a given Local Time sector). We propose a simple analytical description of these internal and external modulations and evaluate its main parameters (the amplitude of each control) for HOM+DAM and bKOM. Comparing Cassini and Nançay Decameter Array data, we find that HOM is primarily connected to the decameter emissions originating from the dusk sector of the Jovian magnetosphere. HOM and DAM components form a complex but stable pattern in the frequency-longitude plane, that remains to be modelled. HOM also seems to be related to the so-called ‘lesser arcs’ identified by Voyager. bKOM consists of a main part above ∼40 kHz in antiphase with HOM occurrence, and detached patches below ∼80 kHz in phase with HOM occurrence.