scholarly journals Modeling the Lunar Wake Response to a CME Using a Hybrid PIC Model

2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Rasca ◽  
Shahab Fatemi ◽  
William M. Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Magnetic Cloud ◽  
Plasma Sheath ◽  
Wake Region ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Lunar Wake ◽  
Wind Spacecraft ◽  
Upstream Solar Wind ◽  
Mass Ejection

Abstract In the solar wind, a low-density wake region forms downstream of the nightside lunar surface. In this study, we use a series of 3D hybrid particle-in-cell simulations to model the response of the lunar wake to a passing coronal mass ejection (CME). Average plasma parameters are derived from the Wind spacecraft located at 1 au during three distinct phases of a passing halo (Earth-directed) CME on 2015 June 22. Each set of plasma parameters, representing the shock/plasma sheath, a magnetic cloud, and plasma conditions we call the mid-CME phase, are used as the time-static upstream boundary conditions for three separate simulations. These simulation results are then compared with results that use nominal solar wind conditions. Results show a shortened plasma void compared to nominal conditions and a distinctive rarefaction cone originating from the terminator during the CME’s plasma sheath phase, while a highly elongated plasma void reforms during the magnetic cloud and mid-CME phases. Developments of electric and magnetic field intensification are also observed during the plasma sheath phase along the central wake, while electrostatic turbulence dominates along the plasma void boundaries and 2–3 lunar radii R M downstream in the central wake during the magnetic cloud and mid-CME phases. The simulations demonstrate that the lunar wake responds in a dynamic way with the changes in the upstream solar wind during a CME.

A Double-Disturbed Lunar Plasma Wake

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Rasca ◽  
Shahab Fatemi ◽  
William Farrell ◽  
Andrew Poppe ◽  
Yihua Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Lunar Wake ◽  
Plasma Environment ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Wind Spacecraft ◽  
Mass Ejection ◽  
Plasma Shock

<p>Under nominal solar wind conditions, a low density wake region forms downstream of the nightside lunar surface.  However, the lunar plasma environment undergoes a transformation as the Moon passes through the Earth’s magnetotail, with the warm plasma typically not having a strong flow, and thus the wake structure disappears.  However, while in the tail, there can be a sudden intense change due to solar-driven events such as coronal mass ejections.  With a new planned human presence on the Moon, it is important to understand the near-surface plasma environment’s response to these extreme conditions.  We investigate the response of the lunar wake to a passing coronal mass ejection on 2012 March 8 while crossing the Earth’s magnetotail using both a large-scale MHD model of the Earth’s global magnetosphere and smaller-scale 3-D hybrid-PIC simulations.</p><p>The CME plasma shock was detected by the Wind spacecraft around 10:30 UT and in the Earth’s magnetotail around 11:20 UT by the ARTEMIS spacecraft in lunar orbit.  Wind observations are used as time-dependent up-stream conditions for a 24-hour global magnetosphere MHD simulation run through NASA’s Community Coordinated Modeling Center using the OpenGGCM model.  Extracted plasma parameters from the ARTEMIS spacecraft following the plasma shock are used as upstream static boundary conditions for hybrid-PIC simulations using the AMITIS code.</p><p>Results for the hybrid-PIC lunar wake simulations performed during a momentary jump in magnetotail plasma velocity and density show a short misaligned plasma void relative to nominal SW conditions.  MHD results indicate that changes near the Moon appear as a result of a warped magnetopause boundary moving inward after 11:00 UT, causing the Moon to enter the magnetosheath.  These results also show a number of plasmoids developing and propagating down the tail, including one seen at 11:20 UT that corresponds temporarily with plasmoid-like features in the ARTEMIS magnetic field profiles.</p>

scholarly journals Experimental and numerical investigation of plasma parameters in the magnetosheath

2018 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 03003
Author(s):  
Polya Dobreva ◽  
Monio Kartalev ◽  
Olga Nitcheva ◽  
Natalia Borodkova ◽  
Georgy Zastenker
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Euler Equations ◽  
Ideal Gas ◽  
Bow Shock ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Wind Spacecraft ◽  
The Magnetic Field ◽  
Good Agreement

We investigate the behaviour of the plasma parameters in the magnetosheath in a case when Interball-1 satellite stayed in the magnetosheath, crossing the tail magnetopause. In our analysis we apply the numerical magnetosheath-magnetosphere model as a theoretical tool. The bow shock and the magnetopause are self-consistently determined in the process of the solution. The flow in the magnetosheath is governed by the Euler equations of compressible ideal gas. The magnetic field in the magnetosphere is calculated by a variant of the Tsyganenko model, modified to account for an asymmetric magnetopause. Also, the magnetopause currents in Tsyganenko model are replaced by numericaly calulated ones. Measurements from WIND spacecraft are used as a solar wind monitor. The results demonstrate a good agreement between the model-calculated and measured values of the parameters under investigation.

Microinstabilities and plasma waves at Near-Sun Solar Wind collisionless Shocks: Predictions for PSP and SO

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongwei Yang ◽  
Shuichi Matsukiyo ◽  
Huasheng Xie ◽  
Fan Guo ◽  
Mingzhe Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Shock Front ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Relativistic Electrons ◽  
Interplanetary Shocks ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Drift Instability ◽  
Shock Simulation ◽  
Mass Ejection ◽  
The Impact

<p><span>Microinstabilities and waves excited at perpendicular interplanetary shocks in the near-Sun solar wind are investigated by full particle-in-cell simulations. By analyzing the dispersion relation of fluctuating field components directly issued from the shock simulation, we obtain key findings concerning wave excitations at the shock front: (1) at the leading edge of the foot, two types of electrostatic (ES) waves are observed. The relative drift of the reflected ions versus the electrons triggers an electron cyclotron drift instability (ECDI) that excites the first ES wave. Because the bulk velocity of gyro-reflected ions shifts to the direction of the shock front, the resulting ES wave propagates obliquely to the shock normal. Immediately, a fraction of incident electrons are accelerated by this ES wave and a ring-like velocity distribution is generated. They can couple with the hot Maxwellian core and excite the second ES wave around the upper hybrid frequency. (2) From the middle of the foot all the way to the ramp, electrons can couple with both incident and reflected ions. ES waves excited by ECDI in different directions propagate across each other. Electromagnetic (EM) waves (X mode) emitted toward upstream are observed in both regions. They are probably induced by a small fraction of relativistic electrons. The impact of shock front rippling, Mach numbers, and dimensions on the ES wave excitation also will be discussed. Results shed new insight on the mechanism for the occurrence of ES wave excitations and possible EM wave emissions at young coronal mass ejection–driven shocks in the near-Sun solar wind.</span></p>

Long-term properties of the solar wind and their relation to solar cycles

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Salohub ◽  
Jana Šafránkova ◽  
Zdeněk Němeček ◽  
Lubomír Přech ◽  
Tereza Ďurovcová
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Dynamic Pressure ◽  
Solar Wind Speed ◽  
Solar Wind Plasma ◽  
Solar Cycles ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Wind Spacecraft ◽  
Slow Wind ◽  
Density Dynamic

<p>The solar wind variations during particular solar cycles have been described in many previous studies including the solar cycle 23 that was characterized by a long, deep, and very complex solar minimum with very low values of many solar wind parameters.</p><p>Using statistical methods, we analyzed 25 years of Wind spacecraft measurements with motivation to reveal differences and similarities in magnetic field components and solar wind plasma parameters in individual solar cycles. We tracked the changes of the solar magnetic field strength, and components, solar wind speed, density, dynamic pressure, temperature, and composition). Except quiet solar wind conditions during solar minima and maxima, we also selected significant discontinuities (ICME and CIRs) and investigated their influence on profiles of average parameters. For this, we followed other quantities connected with their presence as their average front normals, regions of transitions between high and slow wind streams, special interplanetary magnetic field orientations, etc.). We discuss a behavior of investigated parameters over solar cycles as well as on shorter time scales (in the order of days and hours).</p>

scholarly journals Magnetosheath plasma flow model around Mercury

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Schmid ◽  
Ferdinand Plaschke ◽  
Yasuhito Narita ◽  
Martin Volwerk ◽  
Rumi Nakamura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Plasma Flow ◽  
Flow Model ◽  
Outer Boundary ◽  
Solar Wind Plasma ◽  
Bow Shock ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Upstream Solar Wind ◽  
Planetary Magnetic Field ◽  
Spacecraft Location

Abstract. The magnetosheath is defined as the plasma region between the bow shock, where the super-magnetosonic solar wind plasma is decelerated and heated, and the outer boundary of the intrinsic planetary magnetic field, the so called magnetopause. Based on the Soucek-Escoubet magnetosheath flow model at Earth, we present the first analytical magnetosheath plasma flow model for Mercury. It can be used to estimate the plasma flow magnitude and direction at any given point in the magnetosheath exclusively on the basis of the plasma parameters of the upstream solar wind. The aim of this paper is to provide a tool to back-trace the magnetosheath plasma flow between multiple observation points or from a given spacecraft location to the bow shock.

Dynamics of helium abundance in magnetic clouds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Khokhlachev ◽  
Maria Riazantseva ◽  
Liudmila Rakhmanova ◽  
Yuri Yermolaev ◽  
Irina Lodkina
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Magnetic Cloud ◽  
Magnetic Clouds ◽  
Helium Abundance ◽  
Local Correlation ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Large Scale Structures ◽  
Scale Structures

<p>Helium is the second most abundant ion component of the solar wind. The relative abundance of helium can differ significantly in various large-scale structures of the solar wind generated by the nonstationarity and inhomogeneity of the solar corona. For example the helium abundance is ~3% in slow streams and ~4% in fast streams. The maximum helium abundance is usually observed inside magnetic clouds and can reach >10%. The relative abundance of helium can also dynamically vary inside large-scale structures, which can be the result of local processes in plasma.</p><p> In magnetic clouds, the distribution of the helium abundance has an axisymmetric peak with a maximum in the central region of the magnetic cloud, where the ion current flows [Yermolaev et al., 2020]. This research examines the different-scale dynamics of the relative abundance of helium in magnetic clouds. For this purpose, the dependences of the helium abundance on some plasma parameters were studied on different datasets of the OMNI database from 1976 to 2018. It is shown that the helium abundance increases with an increase in the modulus of the interplanetary magnetic field B and with a decrease in the proton plasma parameter β in the center of the magnetic cloud. The scale of this region is ~1 million kilometers. Similar relations of the helium abundance to interplanetary magnetic field direction angles and other solar wind parameters were studied.</p><p>In addition, the work studied intermediate-scale changes (at scale <1 hour) in helium abundance inside magnetic clouds and compression regions in front of them in comparison with other large-scale wind types. For this aim, a correlation analysis of the time series of density and relative abundance of helium was carried out on base of measurements on SPEKTR-R and WIND spacecraft located at a considerable distance from each other. The dependences of the local correlation coefficients (at scale ~1 hour or less) between measurements at two points on the solar wind plasma parameters are considered. Meanwhile these dependencies are compared with the same for other types of solar wind. It is shown that the median values of the local correlation coefficient in the regions of compressed plasma ahead of magnetic clouds exceed the values in other types of wind by about 15%. In addition, the local correlation coefficient increases with an increase in the amplitude of fluctuations of the investigated parameter and the proton velocity. Thus, intermediate-scale fluctuations in the relative helium abundance observed in these structures are quite stable and apparently are formed in the corona acceleration region and then propagate without changes.<br>The work is supported by <span>RFBR grant № <span>19-02-00177</span>a.</span></p><p>References.<br>Yermolaev, Y.I. et al., Dynamics of large-scale solar-wind streams obtained by the double superposed epoch analysis. 4. Helium abundance, Journal of Geophysical Research, 125 (7) DOI: 10.1029/2020JA027878</p>

scholarly journals IMF control of cusp proton emission intensity and dayside convection: implications for component and anti-parallel reconnection

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 955-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lockwood ◽  
B. S. Lanchester ◽  
H. U. Frey ◽  
K. Throp ◽  
S. K. Morley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Solar Wind Plasma ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Proton Emission ◽  
Dayside Magnetopause ◽  
Propagation Delays ◽  
Wind Spacecraft ◽  
Upstream Solar Wind ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Imf

Abstract. We study a brightening of the Lyman-a emission in the cusp which occurred in response to a short-lived south-ward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) during a period of strongly enhanced solar wind plasma concentration. The cusp proton emission is detected using the SI-12 channel of the FUV imager on the IMAGE spacecraft. Analysis of the IMF observations recorded by the ACE and Wind spacecraft reveals that the assumption of a constant propagation lag from the upstream spacecraft to the Earth is not adequate for these high time-resolution studies. The variations of the southward IMF component observed by ACE and Wind allow for the calculation of the ACE-to-Earth lag as a function of time. Application of the derived propagation delays reveals that the intensity of the cusp emission varied systematically with the IMF clock angle, the relationship being particularly striking when the intensity is normalised to allow for the variation in the upstream solar wind proton concentration. The latitude of the cusp migrated equatorward while the lagged IMF pointed southward, confirming the lag calculation and indicating ongoing magnetopause reconnection. Dayside convection, as monitored by the SuperDARN network of radars, responded rapidly to the IMF changes but lagged behind the cusp proton emission response: this is shown to be as predicted by the model of flow excitation by Cowley and Lockwood (1992). We use the numerical cusp ion precipitation model of Lockwood and Davis (1996), along with modelled Lyman-a emission efficiency and the SI-12 instrument response, to investigate the effect of the sheath field clock angle on the acceleration of ions on crossing the dayside magnetopause. This modelling reveals that the emission commences on each reconnected field line 2–2.5 min after it is opened and peaks 3–5 min after it is opened. We discuss how comparison of the Lyman-a intensities with oxygen emissions observed simultaneously by the SI-13 channel of the FUV instrument offers an opportunity to test whether or not the clock angle dependence is consistent with the "component" or the "anti-parallel" reconnection hypothesis.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp and boundary layers; solar wind-magnetosphere interactions) – Space plasma physics (magnetic reconnection)

Simultaneous existence of stochastic and ohmic heating in capacitive discharges

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khristo Tarnev ◽  
Rositsa Pavlova
Keyword(s):  
Ohmic Heating ◽  
Plasma Sheath ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
Simultaneous Existence ◽  
Capacitive Discharges ◽  
Large Discharge ◽  
Discharge Gap ◽  
Plasma Bulk

A one-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo (PIC/MCC) model of low-pressure capacitive discharges with a large discharge gap is presented in the paper. The results from the model are for the dependence of the plasma parameters on the pressure and on the discharge radius. The study is directed to the heating mechanisms in the discharge. It is shown that the ohmic (Joule) heating in the plasma bulk could act simultaneously with the stochastic heating in the region of the plasma–sheath boundary. In confirmation of the results of the model, experimental results showing qualitatively the same behaviour are presented.

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