Global Hybrid Simulations of the Bow Shock and Its Interaction with Interplanetary Discontinuities

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

The interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere produces a shock front. The upstream region, referred to as the foreshock, has been found to have very complicated spatial and temporal structures. Similarly within the sheath region between the magnetopause and the bow shock there can be complex structures that are believed to cause various transient events in the magnetosphere. The kinetic effects of the ions play an important role in the interactions of the solar wind with the bow shock and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, which treat the plasma a single component fluid, are not adequate for understanding the physics of this region. This project will utilize 2-D and 3-D simulations using a high-resolution hybrid code to study the interactions. The primary topics to be investigated are: (1) the structure of the curved bow shock, including quasi-parallel and quasi-perpendicular shocks, the spatial and temporal variations in the foreshock and shock-particle interactions, and (2) the interaction of interplanetary discontinuities with the bow shock, with particular emphasis on hot flow anomalies (HFAs).