Modelling polarization properties of comet 1P/Halley using a mixture of compact and aggregate particles

TL;DR

This study models comet 1P/Halley's dust as a mixture of compact and aggregate particles with specific compositions and size distributions, successfully reproducing observed polarization data across multiple wavelengths.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed mixture model of cometary dust particles, including specific aggregate types and size distributions, to better match polarization observations.

Findings

50% BAM2 and 50% BCCA aggregates best fit the data

78% silicate and 22% organic composition matches observations

Model effectively reproduces negative polarization branch

Abstract

Recently, the result obtained from `Stardust' mission suggests that the overall ratio of compact to aggregate particles is 65:35 (or 13:7) for Comet 81P/Wild 2 (Burchell et al. 2008). In the present work, we propose a model which considers cometary dust as a mixture of compact and aggregate particles, with composition of silicate and organic. We consider compact particles as spheroidal particles and aggregates as BCCA and BAM2 aggregate with some size distribution. For modeling Comet 1P/ Halley, the power-law size distribution n(a)= a^{-2.6}, for both compact and aggregate particles is taken. We take a mixture of BAM2 and BCCA aggregates with a lower and upper cutoff size around 0.20$\mu m$ and 1$\mu m$. We also take a mixture of prolate, spherical and oblate compact particles with axial ratio (E) from 0.8 to 1.2 where a lower and upper cutoff size around 0.1$\mu m$ and 10$\mu m$ are taken. Using T-matrix code, the average simulated polarization curves are generated which can best fit the observed polarization data at the four wavelengths $\lambda$ = 0.365$\mu m$, 0.485$\mu m$, 0.670$\mu m$ and 0.684$\mu m$. The suitable mixing percentage of aggregates emerging out from the present modeling corresponds to 50% BAM2 and 50% BCCA particles and silicate to organic mixing percentage corresponds to 78% silicate and 22% organic in terms of volume. The present model successfully reproduces the observed polarization data, especially the negative branch, more effectively as compared to other work done in the past. It is found that among the aggregates, the BAM2 aggregate plays a major role, in deciding the cross-over angle and depth of negative polarization branch.