General mechanism and dynamics of the solar wind interaction with lunar magnetic anomalies from 3‐D particle‐in‐cell simulations

Deca, Jan; Divin, Andrey; Lembège, Bertrand; Horányi, M.; Markidis, Stefano; Lapenta, Giovanni

doi:10.1002/2015ja021070

Cited by 51 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…The computational investigation into mini-magnetospheres has become an area of considerable interest. A number of papers on hybrid (Bamford et al 2008;Gargaté et al 2008;Kallio et al 2012;Poppe et al 2012) and particle-in-cell (PIC) (Kallio et al 2012;Bamford et al 2013aBamford et al , 2013bBamford et al , 2015Deca et al 2014Deca et al , 2015Jarvinen et al 2014;Cruz et al 2015Cruz et al , 2016Dyadechkin et al 2015;Fatemi et al 2015) simulations have been authored, following from previous magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations (Harnett & Winglee 2002Kurata et al 2005). Here we perform fully self-consistent PIC simulations in 2D and 3D, with a realistic proton-to-electron mass ratio.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3d Pic Simulations of Collisionless Shocks at Lunar Magnetic Anomalies and Their Role in Forming Lunar Swirls

Bamford

Alves

Cruz

et al. 2016

ApJ

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Investigation of the lunar crustal magnetic anomalies offers a comprehensive long-term data set of observations of small-scale magnetic fields and their interaction with the solar wind. In this paper a review of the observations of lunar mini-magnetospheres is compared quantifiably with theoretical kinetic-scale plasma physics and 3D particlein-cell simulations. The aim of this paper is to provide a complete picture of all the aspects of the phenomena and to show how the observations from all the different and international missions interrelate. The analysis shows that the simulations are consistent with the formation of miniature (smaller than the ion Larmor orbit) collisionless shocks and miniature magnetospheric cavities, which has not been demonstrated previously. The simulations reproduce the finesse and form of the differential proton patterns that are believed to be responsible for the creation of both the "lunar swirls" and "dark lanes." Using a mature plasma physics code like OSIRIS allows us, for the first time, to make a side-by-side comparison between model and space observations. This is shown for all of the key plasma parameters observed to date by spacecraft, including the spectral imaging data of the lunar swirls. The analysis of miniature magnetic structures offers insight into multi-scale mechanisms and kinetic-scale aspects of planetary magnetospheres.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3d Pic Simulations of Collisionless Shocks at Lunar Magnetic Anomalies and Their Role in Forming Lunar Swirls

Bamford

Alves

Cruz

et al. 2016

ApJ

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“…The setup used here is identical to run A in Deca et al (2015)and is representative of the solar wind-LMA interaction under quiet solar wind conditions at 1 au. The solar wind velocity is directed perpendicular to the lunar surface, whereas the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is parallel to the surface and directed along the dipole axis;see also Tables 2 and 3 for more details.…”

Section: Lunar Magnetic Anomalymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent high-resolution measurements characterized these LMAs to have size up to several hundred kilometers with surface magnetic field strengths ranging from 0.1 up to 1000 nT (Lin et al 1998;Mitchell et al 2008;Purucker 2008;Richmond & Hood 2008;Purucker & Nicholas 2010). Since LMAs are rather tiny compared to typical ion plasma scales in the solar wind, the solar wind-LMA interaction is dominated by highly nonadiabatic physical processes(e.g., Deca et al 2014Deca et al , 2015Howes et al 2015, and reference therein). Even more, in situ Kaguya and Chandrayaan measurements have indicated that some of these crustal fields might be able to locally shield the lunar surface from direct impact by the solar wind plasma and form a so-called "minimagnetosphere" (Lin et al 1998;Saito et al 2010;Wieser et al 2010;Vorburger et al 2012).…”

Section: Lunar Magnetic Anomalymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Deca et al (2014Deca et al ( , 2015 observe in their 3D simulations the formation of a mini-magnetosphere above a dipolar magnetic field configuration resembling the strongest component of the Reiner Gamma anomaly (Kurata et al 2005). The configuration is highly driven by electron motion, displays reflection and scattering of ions, and heats and deflects electrons perpendicular to the magnetic field under the influence of an E B -drift mechanism (see also Figure 5,where typical streamlines for both species in the simulation are shown in harmony with the 2D surface density profile).…”

Section: Lunar Magnetic Anomalymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Magnetic Null Points in Kinetic Simulations of Space Plasmas

Olshevsky

Deca

Divin

et al. 2016

ApJ

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We present a systematic attempt to study magnetic null points and the associated magnetic energy conversion in kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of various plasma configurations. We address three-dimensional simulations performed with the semi-implicit kinetic electromagnetic code iPic3D in different setups: variations of a Harris current sheet, dipolar and quadrupolar magnetospheres interacting with the solar wind,and a relaxing turbulent configuration with multiple null points. Spiral nulls are more likely created in space plasmas: in all our simulations except lunar magnetic anomaly (LMA) and quadrupolar mini-magnetosphere the number of spiral nulls prevails over the number of radial nulls by a factor of 3-9. We show that often magnetic nulls do not indicate the regions of intensive energy dissipation. Energy dissipation events caused by topological bifurcations at radial nulls are rather rare and short-lived. The so-called X-lines formed by the radial nulls in the Harris current sheet and LMA simulations are rather stable and do not exhibit any energy dissipation. Energy dissipation is more powerful in the vicinity of spiral nulls enclosed by magnetic flux ropes with strong currents at their axes (their crosssections resemble 2D magnetic islands). These null lines reminiscent of Z-pinches efficiently dissipate magnetic energy due to secondary instabilities such as the two-stream or kinking instability, accompanied by changes in magnetic topology. Current enhancements accompanied by spiral nulls may signal magnetic energy conversion sites in the observational data.

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“…We model self-consistently the kinetic dynamics of both cometary water ions and electrons, produced by the ionization of the radially expanding and outgassing cometary atmosphere, together with the incoming solar wind proton and electron plasma flow. To accommodate a flowing plasma in the computational domain, we use open boundary conditions as implemented by Deca et al [36].…”

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confidence: 99%

3D View of a Comet’s Neighborhood

DeForest

2017

Physics

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Using a 3D fully kinetic approach, we disentangle and explain the ion and electron dynamics of the solar wind interaction with a weakly outgassing comet. We show that, to first order, the dynamical interaction is representative of a four-fluid coupled system. We self-consistently simulate and identify the origin of the warm and suprathermal electron distributions observed by ESA's Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and conclude that a detailed kinetic treatment of the electron dynamics is critical to fully capture the complex physics of mass-loading plasmas.

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General mechanism and dynamics of the solar wind interaction with lunar magnetic anomalies from 3‐D particle‐in‐cell simulations

Cited by 51 publications

References 67 publications

3d Pic Simulations of Collisionless Shocks at Lunar Magnetic Anomalies and Their Role in Forming Lunar Swirls

3d Pic Simulations of Collisionless Shocks at Lunar Magnetic Anomalies and Their Role in Forming Lunar Swirls

Magnetic Null Points in Kinetic Simulations of Space Plasmas

3D View of a Comet’s Neighborhood

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