Dayside H+ circulation at Mercury and neutral particle emission

In this study we discuss the proton circulation and the neutral atom emission at Mercury. The H+ distribution in space, energy and pitch angle has been simulated by means of a single-particle Monte Carlo model. The applied electric and magnetic field model has been parameterized to take into account different boundary conditions such as interplanetary magnetic field and cross-tail potential drop. Particular attention has been paid to the estimation of the surface-sputtered neutral atoms and the energetic neutral atoms generated via charge-exchange process. The peculiar configuration of the hermean magnetosphere, as it is expected after the Mariner-10 observation of a weak magnetic field, allows a significant part of the incoming solar wind to enter Mercuryʹs environment. For the B z < − 10   nT conditions, intense ion fluxes are expected in the cusp regions, which are extremely large when compared to the Earthʹs ones. The solar wind particles are likely to rapidly leave the hermean magnetosphere or precipitate onto the planetary surface, thus originating neutral particle emission via ion-sputtering. Two instruments, proposed to fly on board ESA mission BepiColombo (namely: the NPA-IS SERENA suite on the MPO segment and the ENA instrument on the MMO segment) will monitor the neutral signal as well as the precipitating ion particles. The modeled distribution presented here may be considered as a reference tool for the future observations.