Escape and evolution of Titan’s N2 atmosphere constrained by 14N/15N isotope ratios

@article{Erkaev2020EscapeAE,
title={Escape and evolution of Titan’s N2 atmosphere constrained by 14N/15N isotope ratios},
author={N. V. Erkaev and Manuel Scherf and S. E. Thaller and Helmut Lammer and A. V. Mezentsev and Viktor A. Ivanov and Kathleen E. Mandt},
journal={Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year={2020},
volume={500},
pages={2020-2035}
}
• N. Erkaev, +4 authors K. Mandt
• Published 23 October 2020
• Physics
• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
We apply a 1D upper atmosphere model to study thermal escape of nitrogen over Titan's history. Significant thermal escape should have occurred very early for solar EUV fluxes 100 to 400 times higher than today with escape rates as high as $\approx 1.5\times 10^{28}$ s$^{-1}$ and $\approx 4.5\times 10^{29}$ s$^{-1}$, respectively, while today it is $\approx 7.5\times 10^{17}$ s$^{-1}$. Depending on whether the Sun originated as a slow, moderate or fast rotator, thermal escape was the dominant… Expand
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