Hybrid Simulations of the Interaction Between Solar Wind Flow and the Hermean Magnetosphere

Details Hybrid Simulations of the Interaction Between Solar Wind Flow and the Hermean Magnetosphere Hybrid Simulations of the Interaction Between Solar Wind Flow and the Hermean Magnetosphere

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufmsm31c1120t&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #SM31C-1120

Other

2154 Planetary Bow Shocks, 2753 Numerical Modeling, 2784 Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

We examine the magnetosphere of Mercury using global three dimensional hybrid plasma simulations. Hybrid simulations treat ions as particles and electrons as a fluid. Having ions as particles allows ion kinetic behavior and waves to be included in the physical treatment of the plasma as compared to magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling that treats the plasma as a single magnetized fluid and does not include such kinetic effects. Kinetic effects are essential for understanding magnetospheric physics. Hybrid simulations scale to the ion inertial length and thus on a global scale are somewhat limited in spatial extent compared to an MHD simulation. We note effects caused by the scalling of the numerical model of the magnetized obstacle interacting with the solar wind flow with the full scale simulation. Hermean magnetosphere is estimated to be only a few times the planetary radius, it can fit within a hybrid simulation system. The overal structure of the interaction between a magnetized obstacle in the solar wind flow is determined by few basic parameters (namely the solar wind density, background magnetic field, and the speed of solar wind, and also the strength of the magnetic dipole of the obstacle and its radius). The structure of the interaction of the solar wind flow with Mercury is to a large extend unique when compared to other planets. For example, the magnetic moment of the Mercury is over 1000 times smaller than that of the Earth and also the solar wind is stronger nearby Mercury than at Earth's vicinity. The typical magnetosperic scales are comparable to the ion gyroradii and hence kinetic effects are important for the overall structure of the interaction between the Hermean magnetospere and the solar wind. In this paper we shall focus on the study of the overal structure of the bow shock and magnetosheath of Mercury. We shall examine the formation of the magnetospheric tail. We shall study particle distribution functions in different locations of the numerical model of the Hermean magnetosphere and we make qualitative comparison of the results with the available measurements of the Mariner 10 spacecraft.

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