Open AccessAggregate model of cometary dust: an application to comet Levy 1990XX
Author(s) -
Das H. S.,
Das S. R.,
Paul T.,
Suklabaidya A.,
Sen A. K.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13569.x
Subject(s) - physics , comet , superposition principle , comet dust , wavelength , scattering , cluster (spacecraft) , silicate , polarization (electrochemistry) , computational physics , light curve , monomer , aggregate (composite) , molecular physics , interplanetary dust cloud , optics , astrophysics , astronomy , nanotechnology , quantum mechanics , solar system , polymer , chemistry , materials science , computer science , programming language , nuclear magnetic resonance
In the present work, the light‐scattering properties of comet Levy 1990XX are studied through simulations using Ballistic Particle‐Cluster Aggregation (BPCA) or Ballistic Cluster–Cluster Aggregation (BCCA) aggregates of up to 128 spherical monomers of different compositions (e.g. silicates, carbonaceous materials etc.) and the best‐fitting theoretical polarization curve is generated using the Superposition T‐matrix code. The best‐fitting refractive indices coming out from the present analysis show silicate behaviour when monomer radius is a m = 0.12 μm and provide excellent results on the maximum and negative degrees of linear polarization at a single wavelength λ= 0.485 μm for BCCA aggregates.