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Solar wind-magnetosphere interaction as simulated by a 3-D em particle code

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Abstract

We have studied the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction using a 3-D electromagnetic particle code. The results for an unmagnetized solar wind plasma streaming past a dipole magnetic field show the formation of a magnetopause and a magnetotail, the penetration of energetic particles into cusps and radiation belt and dawn-dusk asymmetries. The effects of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have been investigated in a similar way as done by MHD simulations. The simulation results with a southward IMF show the shrunk magnetosphere with great particle entry into the cusps and nightside magnetosphere. This is a signature of a magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. After a quasi-stable state is established with an unmagnetized solar wind we switched on a solar wind with an northward IMF. In this case the significant changes take place in the magnetotail. The waving motion was seen in the magnetotail and its length was shortened. This phenomena are consistent with the reconnections which occur at the high latitude magnetopause. In our simulations kinetic effects will determine the self-consistent anomalous resistivity in the magnetopause that causes reconnections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Ken-Ichi Nishikawa

  2. Space Physics Research Laboratory, The University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Torsten Neubert

  3. STAR Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 94305, Stanford, California, USA

    Oscar Buneman

Authors
  1. Ken-Ichi Nishikawa
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  2. Torsten Neubert
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  3. Oscar Buneman
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Deceased January 24, 1993; R. Bunemanet al. 1993.

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Nishikawa, KI., Neubert, T. & Buneman, O. Solar wind-magnetosphere interaction as simulated by a 3-D em particle code. Astrophys Space Sci 227, 265–276 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00678084

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