Focusing on Ganymede and Enceladus, this work addresses a number of issues regarding icy satellite evolution, including the ultimate cause of Ganymede's tectonic and cryovolcanic resurfacing, the production of Ganymede's magnetic field, the formation of Ganymede's grooved terrain, and the tectonic and thermal evolution of Enceladus.Both Ganymede's resurfacing and the production of its magnetic field may be attributable to the Galilean satellites' passage through a Laplace-like resonance that excited Ganymede's orbital eccentricity. I examine how resonance passage effects Ganymede's thermal evolution using a coupled orbital-thermal model. Dissipation of tidal energy in Ganymede's ice shell permits high heat fluxes in its past, consistent with the formation of the grooved terrain; however, it also leads to the formation of a thin ice shell, which would have significant consequences for Ganymede's geologic history. In contrast, negligible tidal dissipation occurs in Ganymede's silicate mantle. Thus, passage through a Laplace-like resonance cannot reinvigorate Ganymede's metallic core or enable present-day magnetic field generation.Ganymede's thermal evolution has driven tectonic deformation on its surface, producing numerous swaths of ridges and troughs termed ``grooved terrain.'' Grooved terrain likely formed via unstable extension of Ganymede's lithosphere, but questions regarding instability growth at large strains remain unanswered. To address these questions, I use the finite-element model TEKTON to simulation the extension of an icy lithosphere to examine instability growth at finite strains. My results indicate that large-amplitude deformation requires lower thermal gradients than have been suggested by analytical models; however, the maximum deformation amplitudes produced by our numerical models are lower than typical observed groove amplitudes.Finally, I apply our finite-element modeling to the formation of ridges and troughs on Enceladus. Comparison between our models and photoclinometry profiles of Enceladus' topography indicate that the heat flux was high at the time of ridge and trough formation. Thus, the tectonic resurfacing and high heat fluxes currently observed at Enceladus' south pole may be only the latest episode in a long history of localized resurfacing and global reorientation.

Cassini-RPWS high resolution (20 Hz) Langmuir probe data was analyzed to find the source of fast variations in the electron density especially in the Enceladus plume region. The spatial scale on the variations is between 1 and 10 km in size. The approaches were to check for correlations between the plasma density and its variations on one hand, and boundary conditions such as the cracks on Enceladus surface as well as dust and single jets on the other hand. None of these mechanisms could be identified as the only or dominating source of observed fine structure, though partial correlation can sometimes be found and the comparison to dust presence is qualitative more than quantitative. Along the way the charging mechanism in the plume was found to be most likely due to solar UV ionization since the maximum electron density was found to be around 200km altitude. Also the deformation of the plume in the corotation direction is visible in the 20 Hz data.

Enceladus, a tiny moon of Saturn, is found to be geologically active. In 2005, Cassini detected an anomalously warm region and a plume, consisting of mostly water vapor and ice grains, at its south pole. The plume has far-reaching effects on the Saturnian system and offers clues into the moon’s interior, particularly as to whether liquid water exists underground. Consequently, understanding the physics and source conditions of the plume is crucial, which is the focus of this work. The plume is not only two-phase but also multi-regime in nature and can be divided into three distinct regions: a subsurface region, a collisional near-field and a free-molecular far-field. To study it, a hybrid model of the plume, which treats each region separately, is constructed. Two subsurface models are considered. Using the resulting vent conditions from these models, the plume is propagated from the surface vents out to several Enceladus radii using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method in the near-field and a free-molecular model in the far-field. The model is used to examine the plume flow, with and without grains. Collisions are found to be important in various processes, including grain condensation and flow acceleration. Since collision rates drop away from the vent, they must be high enough at the vent to enable significant condensation to occur and the gas to accelerate to the maximum speed possible by allowing energy stored in internal modes to be converted into translational energy as the gas expands. When slower grains are present, however, they may decelerate and push the gas out more laterally. Moreover, grains may form a thick column and restrict the free expansion of the gas. Smaller grains have greater and more extensive effects on the gas, but are also more strongly affected by the gas. Their motions decouple from the gas motions higher above the vent. They are also more likely to spread with the gas and be accelerated to the gas speeds. By constraining the plume far-field using Cassini data, the H2O and grain production rates from the plume are estimated to be ~100–1000 kg/s and < 10 kg/s respectively, which agree with other estimates. Based on fit results, the gas jets appear to be narrow, suggesting high Mach numbers at the vents. / text

Cassini spacecraft images of Enceladus' surface have revealed diverse terrains---some heavily cratered, others almost devoid of craters, and even some with ridges and fractures. We have documented crater morphologies in regions for which high-resolution data are available (140 to 360 W and 90 S to 60 N). The south polar region shows a dearth of craters, in sharp contrast to the heavily cratered northern latitudes. Tectonized regions such as Sarandib and Diyar Planitiae also have low crater densities. Viscously relaxed craters are found in the apparently young regions of the anti-Saturnian and trailing hemispheres, as well as in the older, upper northern latitudes. By modeling the viscoelastic relaxation of craters on Enceladus using TEKTON, a finite-element code, we predict large geographical variation in heat flow and a complicated thermal history on Enceladus. Our results are consistent with the planitiae being older examples of the South Polar Terrain, supporting a satellite-reorientation hypothesis.

Thesis (MS)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David R. Lageson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-100).

This study investigates the presence of water vapor plumes in the region south of Enceladus, a moon in the Saturnian system, through observations conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope. Enceladus is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean or localized water reservoir that gives rise to water geysers, expelling vapor into its tenuous atmosphere and outer space. On the 9th of November 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope made its first observations of the satellite using its Near-Infrared Spectrograph. The instrument's high sensitivity and spectral resolution offer the potential to measure these Enceladus' water vapor plumes, providing an opportunity to study this feature from a telescope located near Earth. However, it remains uncertain whether the obtained results are consistent with previous missions or if the instrument is even capable of conducting detailed examinations of the plumes. Hence, the primary objective of this research is to gain insights into the methodology of conducting scientific investigations of Enceladus and to understand the available data. More specifically, the aim is to verify the presence of the moon's water vapor plumes through a comprehensive analysis of the obtained data. The approach involves deriving spectral maps and extracting residual spectra that are used for comparisons with a reference spectrum entailing known water vapor emission features. The results reveal distinct emission peaks in the extracted spectra that closely resemble the features of water vapor. Additionally, the calculated column density of 6.25 - 8.25E+14 cm-2 over a region of 8.16E+07 km2 closely aligns with observations from the Herschel Space Observatory and Cassini mission. This outcome strongly supports the hypothesis that water vapor plumes are present in the area south of Enceladus, verifying the feasibility of using the James Webb Space Telescope for detecting and studying the characteristics of Enceladus' plumes. / Denna studie utforskar Enceladus' vattenplymer, en måne i Saturnussystemet, genom observationer utförda av James Webb Space Telescope. Det antas att Enceladus har en underjordisk ocean eller en lokaliserad vattenreservoar som ger upphov till vattengejsrar som sprutar ut ånga i dess tunna atmosfär och rymden. Den 9:e november 2022 genomförde James Webb-rymdteleskopet sina första observationer av satelliten med hjälp av sin nära-infraröda spektrograf. Instrumentets höga känslighet och spektrala upplösning erbjuder möjligheten att mäta Enceladus vattenplymer och därigenom möjliggöra studier av denna egenskap från ett teleskop beläget nära jorden. Det är emellertid fortfarande osäkert om de erhållna resultaten är förenliga med tidigare uppdrag eller om instrumentet ens är kapabelt att genomföra detaljerade undersökningar av plymer. Det primära syftet med denna forskning är att få insikt i metodologin för att utföra vetenskapliga undersökningar av Enceladus och att förstå den tillgängliga datan. Mer specifikt är målet att verifiera närvaron av vattenånga i månens plymer genom en omfattande analys av den insamlade datan. Metoden innefattar framställning av spektrala kartor och extrahering av restspektra. Därefter görs jämförelser mellan de extraherade spektrana och ett referensspektrum med kända emissionslinjer för vattenånga. Resultaten visar tydliga emissionspektrum i de extraherade spektrana som starkt liknar egenskaperna hos vattenånga. Dessutom stämmer den beräknade kolumn densiteten på 6.25 - 8.25E+14 cm-2 över ett område på 8,16E+07 km2 väl överens med observationer från Herschel Space Observatory och Cassini-uppdraget. Denna slutsats stöder starkt hypotesen att vattenånga finns i Enceladus' plymer och bekräftar möjligheten att använda James Webb Space Telescope för att detektera och studera egenskaperna hos Enceladus' plymer.

The Milky Way galaxy, like all spiral galaxies, is surrounded by a roughly spherical distribution of stars called the halo. The halo was largely formed when the galaxy merged with smaller galaxies. The stellar population of the inner halo is dominated by debris from one major such merging event, called the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage, and the outer halo population is completely built up by several mergers. To properly understand this accretion history, the halo needs to be investigated out to large distances so that as much substructure as possible can be traced. The substructure is expected to leave an imprint in the halo's metallicity structure. In this thesis, we use a catalogue of intrinsically bright stars, giants, to probe the metallicity structure of the halo to large distances. It contains 205,727 stars that all have photometric metallicities from the Pristine survey and distances derived from isochrone fitting, and reaches down to [Fe/H] = -4.0 dex and out to d = 96.16 kpc. Its purity is 90 % and completeness is 67 %. We calculate the distance errors by Monte Carlo simulations and introduce a new cut in colour that is dependent on metallicity to reduce contaminants in the sample. This introduces a metallicity bias in the sample that we can correct for because we coupled metallicity and colour. The correction is done by computing weights for different metallicity bins. The final catalogue allows us to create metallicity distribution functions of the halo as a function of distance. These show us that as heliocentric distance, the distance from the Galactic centre or the Galactic plane increases, the overall metallicity decreases. At the closest distances, the thick disk metallicity peak at -0.7 dex dominates, but as we move further out this smoothly shifts to -1.3 dex and then to -1.6 dex, representing the inner halo, while a peak at -2.2 dex, representing the outer halo, starts to become visible beyond 6 kpc and dominates the metallicity distribution past 26 kpc. These peaks are remnants of merger events in the halo, with the inner halo peak being due to the massive Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage merger and the outer halo peak being due to the many, low-mass and thus low-metallicity galaxies accreted there. We are able to see signals from the Sagittarius stream and Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage's apocentric pile-ups in the metallicity distribution functions, showing that the halo's metallicity changes with not only distance but also sightline. We also detect a diffuse, very metal-poor cloud in the southern footprint that may be an until now unknown structure. This catalogue and its resulting metallicity distribution functions are thus a suitable addition to literature at the metal-poor and distant end, as well as the faint end where e.g. Gaia mission data is unable to provide metallicities and distances. / Vintergatan är, som alla spiralgalaxer, omringad av en ungefärligen sfärisk distribution av stjärnor som kallas halon. Denna halo bildades när galaxen sammansmälte med mindre galaxer. Stjärnpopulationen i den inre halon domineras av stjärnor som kom in med en sådan, väldigt stor, sammanslagning med en annan galax som eter Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage, och den yttre halons stjärnpopulation har helt och hållet byggts upp av sammanslagningar med flera galaxer. För att kunna kartlägga Vintergatans alla sammanslagningar med andra galaxer behöver vi därför undersöka den yttre halon så långt ut som möjligt, för att spåra så mycket substruktur i halon som uppstod till följd av sammanslagningar som möjligt. Sådan substruktur förväntas göra ett avtryck i halons metallicitetsstruktur. I denna masteruppsats används en katalog av intrinsiskt ljusstarka stjärnor, jättar, för att kartlägga halons metallicitetsstruktur till stora avstånd. Katalogen innehåller 205,727 stjärnor som alla har fotometriska metalliciteter från Pristine-undersökningen samt avstånd från isokronanpassning. Den når [Fe/H] = -4.0 dex och d = 96.16 kpc. Mängden jättar i katalogen är 90 % och katalogen behåller 67 % av alla jättar i ursprungskatalogen. Avståndens osäkerhet beräknas med Monte Carlo-simulationer, och det införs ett nytt klipp med färg som är beroende av metallicitet för att undvika kontamination. Detta inför en metallicitetssnedvridning av katalogen som vi kan korrigera eftersom att vi kopplade ihop metallicitet och färg. Korrektionen sker genom att vi beräknar vikter för olika metallicitetsintervall i katalogen. Den slutgiltiga katalogen låter oss skapa metallicitetsdistributioner för halon som beror på avstånd. Dessa distributioner visar oss att när stjärnors avstånd till solen, från galaxens centrum samt från galaxdisken ökar, så minskar den genomsnittliga metalliciteten. Vid väldigt nära avstånd är distributionerna centrerade runt -0.7 dex som motsvarar den tjocka disken, men när avstånden ökar, flyttas denna topp till -1.3 dex och sedan till -1.6 dex, vilket motsvarar den inre halon, samtidigt som en topp vid -2.2 dex, som motsvarar den yttre halon, framträder bortom 6 kpc och dominerar metallicitetsdistributionen för halon bortom 26 kpc. Dessa toppar är kvarlevor efter sammanslagningar mellan Vintergatan och mindre galaxer, där toppen i den inre halon uppstod p.g.a. Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage och toppen i den yttre halon kommer från de många lågmassiva och därmed metallfattiga dvärggalaxer som assimilerats där. Metallicitetsdistributionerna visar signaler från Sagittariusströmmen och Gaia-Enceladus-Sausages apocentriska hopsamlingar, vilket visar att halons metallicitet inte bara beror på avstånd utan även på observationsvinkel. Katalogen visar spår av ett diffust metalfattigt moln i det södra observationsfönstret som potentiellt är en hittills oupptäckt struktur. Denna katalog och dess resulterande metallicitetsdisitributioner är en viktig addering till existerande litteratur i den metallfattiga och avlägsna regimen, samt i den ljussvaga regimen där t.ex. data från Gaiateleskopet inte kan bidra med metallicitets- eller avståndsvärden.

The Milky Way has undergone several mergers with other galaxies during its lifetime. The mergers have been identified via stellar debris in the Halo of the Milky Way. The practice of mapping these mergers is called galactic archaeology. To perform this archaeologic inspection, three stellar features must be mapped: chemistry, kinematics and age. Historically, the latter has been difficult to determine, but can today to high degree be determined through asteroseismology. Red giants are well fit for these analyses. In this thesis, the red giant HE1405-0822 is completely characterized, using spectroscopy, asteroseismology and orbit integration, to map its origin. HE1405-0822 is a CEMP-r/s enhanced star in a binary system. Spectroscopy and asteroseismology are used in concert, iteratively to get precise stellar parameters, abundances and age. Its kinematics are analyzed, e.g. in action and velocity space, to see if it belongs to any known kinematical substructures in the Halo. It is shown that the mass accretion that HE1405-0822 has undergone has given it a seemingly younger age than probable. The binary probably transfered C- and s-process rich matter, but how it gained its r-process enhancement is still unknown. It also does not seem like the star comes from a known merger event based on its kinematics, and could possibly be a heated thick disk star. / Vintergatan har genomgått flera sammanslagningar med andra galaxer under sin livstid. Dessa sammanslagningar har identifierats genom rester av stjärnor i Vintergatans Halo. Arbetssättet för att kartlägga dessa sammanslagningar kallas galaktisk arkeologi. För att kunna göra en arkeologisk undersökning krävs tre egenskaper hos de undersökta stjärnorna: kemi, kinematik och ålder. Historiskt sett har den sistnämnda varit svår att bestämma, men kan idag bestämmas med hög precision m.h.a. asteroseismologi. Röda jättar lämpar sig väl för dessa analyser. I denna uppsats undersöks den röda jätten HE1405-0822. Den kartläggs helt m.h.a. spektroskopi, asteroseismologi och bananalys. HE1405-0822 är en CEMP-r/s-förhöjd stjärna i ett binärt system. Spektroskopi och asteroseismologi används tillsammans, iterativt, för att få precisa stjärnparametrar, kemiskt innehåll och ålder. Dess kinematik analyseras, t.ex. i verkan- och hastighetsrummet, för att se om den tillhör någon känd kinematisk substruktur i Halon. Det visas att massöverföringen som HE1405-0822 genomgått har gett den en skenbart yngre ålder än vad som är troligt. Denna binära kompanjon har troligtvis övertfört C- och s-process-rikt material, men hur den fick sin mängd r-processämnen är fortfarande okänt. Det verkar inte som att stjärnan kommer från någon tidigare kartlagd sammanslagning baserat på dess kinematik, och skulle kunna vara en stjärna med upphettad kinematik från Vintergatans tjocka disk.

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