Abstract
The solar wind interaction with planetary magnetospheres is a multifarious topic of which our understanding continues to grow as we obtain more detailed observations and more capable numerical codes. We attempt to explain how the system functions by examining the output of models of increasing sophistication. A gasdynamic numerical model produces a standing bow shock in front of a fixed impenetrable obstacle. The post-shock flow is heated and deflected but no plasma depletion layer is formed in the subsolar region contrary to observations. If magnetic forces are included, then a self-consistent obstacle size can be produced and plasma depletion extends all the way to the subsolar region. While a standing slow mode wave has been reported in the subsolar region, it appears that such a wave is not essential to the formation of a subsolar plasma depletion layer. Both the gasdynamic and magnetohydrodynamic models are self-similar. They do not change with the size of the obstacle. However, in the real solar wind interaction we expect that the relative scale size of ion motion and the radius of the obstacle will change the nature of the interactions. Hybrid simulations allow this multiscale coupling to be explored and shrinking the size of the obstacle relative to the gyroradius enhances the role of kinetic processes. Phenomena such as upstream ions, plasma sheet formation, and reconnection can be found in surprisingly tiny magnetospheres. Finally, we contrast how the magnetospheres of the Earth and Jupiter are powered. In the former case the solar wind interaction is very important and the latter case much less so.
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Russell, C.T., Blanco-Cano, X., Omidi, N., Raeder, J., Wang, Y.L. (2005). The Solar Wind Interaction with Planetary Magnetospheres. In: Sauvaud, JA., Němeček, Z. (eds) Multiscale Processes in the Earth’s Magnetosphere: From Interball to Cluster. NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, vol 178. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2768-0_2
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