Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.u21a0041t&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #U21A-0041
Physics
2483 Wave/Particle Interactions (7867), 6025 Interactions With Solar Wind Plasma And Fields, 6033 Magnetospheres (2756), 6235 Mercury, 6984 Waves In Plasma (7867)
Scientific paper
MESSENGER's 14 January and 6 October 2008 encounters with Mercury have provided new in situ observations of its small magnetosphere. Global three-dimensional kinetic simulations of Mercury's magnetosphere have revealed its basic structure, including a bow shock, magnetopause, well-pronounced cusp regions, and a closed ion ring that forms around the planet within the magnetosphere. In this paper we compare and interpret MESSENGER's observations with the results obtained using such a global kinetic model; in particular, we focus on waves observed in the foot region of the inbound quasiperpendicular shock, the wavetrain in the downstream region of the shock, magnetosheath turbulence, possible signatures in MESSENGER's data related to the presence of Mercury's belt of quasitrapped particles, and large-amplitude oscillations in the region of Mercury's quasiparallel shock. The ions in Mercury's belt remain quasitrapped for several cyclotron periods before they are either absorbed by Mercury's surface or escape from the magnetosphere. We also examine the formation of vortices driven by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability close to Mercury's magnetopause as well as the location of reconnection points within Mercury's magnetosphere. It was established during MESSENGER's Mercury encounters that heavy ions including sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) populate the magnetosphere. Therefore we have also undertaken a study to examine the transport, distribution, and energization of these heavy ions during the solar wind conditions corresponding to those found by MESSENGER. For this purpose we employ a particle-tracing technique using results from the three-dimensional global kinetic simulations of Mercury's magnetosphere for the self-consistent electric and magnetic field configuration at the the time of these flybys. To examine solar wind sputtering as a source for ion ejection from the planet, heavy ions are launched outward from regions near the planet where hybrid simulations show strong particle precipitation. Their trajectories are then followed until they either hit the planet or are picked up by the solar wind and lost downstream. The heavy ions can be transported throughout the magnetosphere of Mercury and become accelerated by non-adiabatic processes in the magnetotail current sheet, as well as near reconnection regions. The nature of this transport depends significantly on the upstream parameters of the solar wind. The distribution of heavy ions and their energy profile in the magnetosphere will be compared with MESSENGER data from the two flybys.
Anderson Benjamin J.
Hellinger Petr
Hercik David
Krimigis Stamatios M.
McNutt Ralph L.
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