Polarimetric Modeling and Observations for the Jovian satellites

Photometric phase curves of airless Solar System objects exhibit a distinctive opposition effect, characterized by nonlinear brightening as phase angles approach backscattering. At phase angles less than approximately 20 degrees, polarimetric phase curves predominantly display a negative degree of linear polarizationThese phenomena arise from electromagnetic wave scattering by discrete media of small particles, due to the interference of reciprocal rays, which travel along the same optical path, but in opposite directions. As such, the coherent backscattering makes the opposition phenomena depend on the medium properties, specifically on the size, refractive index, shape, and packing density of the scatterers in the medium. Incorporating coherent backscattering (CB) into radiative transfer (RT) models provides a comprehensive modeling solution. In addition to coherent backscattering, nonspherical particles contribute to the negative degree of linear polarization.In our research, we model photometric and polarimetric phase curves for two Jupiters satellites. We employ radiative-transfer coherent-backscattering (RT-CB, 12) modeling with an ensembleaveraged scattering matrix. With this approach, parameterized phase matrix elements are utilized to replicate the observed low-phase-angle polarimetric phase curves for Io and the icy moon Ganymede 3. Similar analyses have been earlier carried out for Europa 4. We adjust the scattering matrix until the computations closely match the observed data, resulting in an ensemble-averaged scattering matrix for modeling polarimetric phase curves for these satellites. The scattering matrix can be further used to study the targets surface regolith, and as such it will give new insight into the structure and composition of these objects.We find a clear and distinctive difference in the polarimetric and photometric phase curves of theRT-CB models of Jupiters icy satellites. Europa and Ganymede exhibit similar linear polarimetricbehavior, while Ios results are much different. Despite Io and Europa sharing similar geometricalbedos (Ag) of 0.63 and 0.67, respectively, their negative polarization branch (NPB) shape differ.The NPB of Ganymede (Ag = 0.43) resembles that of Europa morphologically, albeit being describedby different parameters for the single-scattering properties. This discrepancy likely stemsfrom the compositions of their surfaces, Europa primarily composed of H2O ice, Ganymede containingH2O ice and silicates, and Io composed of sulfuric/silicate materials. Polarimetric observations indicated only slight or no dependence on wavelength, suggesting wide particle size distributionswith different real parts of the refractive index Re(m). For Europa and Ganymede, Re(m) wasapproximately 1.3, while for Io, Re(m) exceeded 1.4. Numerical computations using the RT-CBmethod successfully demonstrate a match to the polarimetric observations and to the geometricalbedos. Specifically, for Ganymede, the single-scattering albedo () and mean free path length (kl= 2l/eff) are approximately 0.943 and 150, respectively, where eff is the wavelength. For Iosregolith, 0.979 and kl 40.As future work, simulating light scattering from regolith that is modeled with specified physical properties and comparing the results with an ensemble-averaged scattering matrix can offer morevaluable insights into various characteristics of the regoliths of icy satellites, including their scatteringparticle size distribution, packing factor, and potentially their mineral composition. The decompositionof ensemble-averaged scattering matrices into pure Mueller matrices 2 enables RT-CBcomputations for discrete random media of nonspherical particles. This decomposition will enablemaking conclusions about the structure and nature of regolith by comparing the RT-CB modelresults with observationsThe RT-CB model, with photometric and polarimetric measurements of small phase angles, can beeffectively utilized to model icy satellites and other airless objects based on ground-based observations.This is particularly useful as it enables modeling without expensive in-situ measurements asSolar System geometry often limits ground-based observations to small phase angles.1 K. Muinonen et. al., ApJ 760, 118 (2012)2 K. Muinonen et al., present meeting3 N. Kiselev et al., Planet. Sci. J. 5, 10 (2024)4 N. Kiselev et al., Planet. Sci. J. 3, 134 (2022)