Effect of IMF B_y on the Entry of Solar Wind Ions Into the Near‐Earth Tail Lobe: Global Hybrid Simulation and MMS Observation

Abstract

Global hybrid simulations predict that the low-latitude mantle plasma can form in the near-Earth lobe controlled by interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B y • Low-latitude mantle is in dawnside northern lobe and duskside southern lobe for positive IMF B y . The asymmetry reverses for negative IMF B y • Statistical analysis of magnetospheric multiscale data supports the simulation predicted dependence of near-Earth low-latitude mantle on the IMF B y direction Supporting Information:

North–South Plasma Asymmetry Across Mercury's Near‐Tail Current Sheet

“…At Earth, solar wind entering is dominated by IMF B Z . When the IMF is southward, solar wind can enter the tail lobes in the form of plasma mantle, and it is asymmetric between the northern and southern lobes depends on the IMF B Y direction, that is, in the northern‐dawn and southern‐dusk quadrants of the tail lobes when B Y > 0 and in the other two quadrants when B Y < 0 (e.g., Gosling et al., 1985; Wang et al., 2022). When the IMF is northward, solar wind plasma can enter the plasma sheet through high‐latitude double‐cusp reconnections, forming a low‐latitude boundary layer (Le et al., 1996) and a relatively thick and dense plasma sheet (Song & Russell, 1992).…”

Transport and Acceleration of O+ Ions in Upstream Solar Wind Due To Impact of an IMF Discontinuity: 3D Global Hybrid Simulation

“…Detailed descriptions of the equations for ion particle motion, electric and magnetic fields, and assumptions used in the ANGIE3D code are given in Lin et al (2014). ANGIE3D has been used to simulate the magnetosphere with the impact of a TD (Lin et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2021aWang et al, , 2021bWang et al, , 2022. The code is valid for low-frequency physics with ω ∼ Ω i and kρ i ∼ 1 (wavelength λ ∼ 6ρi), where ω is the wave frequency, k is the wave number, Ω i is the ion gyrofrequency, and ρ i is the ion Larmor radius (gyroradius).…”

“…(2014). ANGIE3D has been used to simulate the magnetosphere with the impact of a TD (Lin et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2021a, 2021b, 2022). The code is valid for low‐frequency physics with ω ∼ Ω i and kρ i ∼ 1 (wavelength λ ∼ 6ρi), where ω is the wave frequency, k is the wave number, Ω i is the ion gyrofrequency, and ρ i is the ion Larmor radius (gyroradius).…”