Probing Triton's Space Environment and Internal Structure: An Integrated Detection-and-Interpretation Framework
Abstract
Triton, Neptune's largest moon, is a prime ocean-world target. Constraining ocean thickness, composition, and conductivity is essential for habitability assessment, but magnetic induction alone cannot resolve the thickness-conductivity degeneracy, and magnetic perturbations from Triton's space currents can obscure the internal induction signal. We present an integrated detection-and-interpretation concept linking four physically consistent calculations. Using `PlanetProfile', we construct a common radial interior structure (temperature, density, conductivity, seismic-wave speed). We then use `MoonMag' to compute the degree-one magnetic-induction response from that conductivity profile at the synodic, rotational, and orbital periods. We perform a multi-fluid `SWMF' simulation with the induced dipole as the inner-boundary condition and develop a Coulomb-gauge Poisson reconstruction to isolate space-current magnetic fields. Finally, we develop the `TritonSeis' workflow, three-dimensional seismic forward modeling plus hierarchical travel-time inversion, to constrain the ice-ocean and ocean-rock interface depths. We find that induction is substantially more sensitive to ocean conductivity than to layer thickness, and that space-current fields are comparable in amplitude to the internal induction signal. A five-station synthetic recovery test resolves both interfaces to first order, with errors of +8.4% for the ice shell and -12.5% for the ocean. Under a conservative noise assumption, the minimum detectable magnitudes are approximately 3.8-4.6 at epicentral distances of 100-1000 km. The Poisson reconstruction and end-to-end seismic recovery are, to our knowledge, the first such quantitative demonstrations for Triton. Coordinated magnetic, plasma, and seismic measurements are complementary and can break the conductivity-thickness degeneracy, providing a framework for future Triton exploration.
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BibTeX
@misc{he2026probing,
title = {{Probing Triton's Space Environment and Internal Structure: An Integrated Detection-and-Interpretation Framework}},
author = {Jiansen He and Chuanpeng Hou and Haoen Xie and Jiaqi Li and Tianhang Chen and Hong Zou and Xuzhi Zhou and Hui Li and Yan Li and Fuchuan Pang and Bingkun Yu and Hui Huang and Tong Wang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.29784},
eprint = {2608.29784},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29784},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Probing Triton's Space Environment and Internal Structure: An Integrated Detection-and-Interpretation Framework
AU - Jiansen He
AU - Chuanpeng Hou
AU - Haoen Xie
AU - Jiaqi Li
AU - Tianhang Chen
AU - Hong Zou
AU - Xuzhi Zhou
AU - Hui Li
AU - Yan Li
AU - Fuchuan Pang
AU - Bingkun Yu
AU - Hui Huang
AU - Tong Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.29784
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.29784
AB - Triton, Neptune's largest moon, is a prime ocean-world target. Constraining ocean thickness, composition, and conductivity is essential for habitability assessment, but magnetic induction alone cannot resolve the thickness-conductivity degeneracy, and magnetic perturbations from Triton's space currents can obscure the internal induction signal. We present an integrated detection-and-interpretation concept linking four physically consistent calculations. Using `PlanetProfile', we construct a common radial interior structure (temperature, density, conductivity, seismic-wave speed). We then use `MoonMag' to compute the degree-one magnetic-induction response from that conductivity profile at the synodic, rotational, and orbital periods. We perform a multi-fluid `SWMF' simulation with the induced dipole as the inner-boundary condition and develop a Coulomb-gauge Poisson reconstruction to isolate space-current magnetic fields. Finally, we develop the `TritonSeis' workflow, three-dimensional seismic forward modeling plus hierarchical travel-time inversion, to constrain the ice-ocean and ocean-rock interface depths. We find that induction is substantially more sensitive to ocean conductivity than to layer thickness, and that space-current fields are comparable in amplitude to the internal induction signal. A five-station synthetic recovery test resolves both interfaces to first order, with errors of +8.4% for the ice shell and -12.5% for the ocean. Under a conservative noise assumption, the minimum detectable magnitudes are approximately 3.8-4.6 at epicentral distances of 100-1000 km. The Poisson reconstruction and end-to-end seismic recovery are, to our knowledge, the first such quantitative demonstrations for Triton. Coordinated magnetic, plasma, and seismic measurements are complementary and can break the conductivity-thickness degeneracy, providing a framework for future Triton exploration.
ER -