Study of Ion Injection into the Inner Magnetosphere Using an Implicit Particle in Cell Simulation Driven by A Global MHD simulation
- 1NASA/GSFC Code 674 Greenbelt, MD 20771 (mostafa.elalaoui@nasa.gov)
- 2The Catholic University of
- 3Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Department of Mathematics, Leuven, Belgium
- 4Space Science Institute, Colorado
- 5University of California Los Angeles, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
Observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that not all plasma injections from reconnection in the tail reach the inner magnetosphere to populate the ring current. We have used a self-consistent three-dimension particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation one way coupled to a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system to investigate the population of the ring current during storm time substorms. This model includes a large fraction of the inner magnetosphere and the near-Earth tail. It allows us to study of the injection of particles from the tail and the interaction of the particles with plasma waves. The calculation begins with electrons and ions propagating earthward from the tail reconnection region. The particle distributions that enter the inner magnetosphere (R < 10 RE) from the magnetotail have a suprathermal component which acts as a seed population for the ring current. We imposed a steady southward IMF with a magnitude of 8 nT at the upstream boundary of the MHD simulation domain for more than three hours. The solar wind number density was 6 cm-3, the thermal pressure was 16 pPa, and the velocity was 530 km/s in the X direction toward Earth. After we ran the MHD simulation, we chose an interval to examine during which there were several earthward flow channels and dipolarization fronts. Then, we used the output from this time to populate a large PIC simulation domain in the inner magnetosphere. In GSM coordinates, this domain extends over -22 RE <X < 12.5 RE, -13 RE < Y <13 RE, -5 RE < Z < 5 RE. The mass ratio was 256 with realistic ions and more massive electrons. In an initial simulation, we ran the code for 16,000 cycles and found that a ring current developed. We will discuss the reasons why some particles from the tail reach the inner magnetosphere, and some do not by examining how the particles are accelerated and lost.
How to cite: El Alaoui, M., Lapenta, G., Rusaitis, L., and Walker, R.: Study of Ion Injection into the Inner Magnetosphere Using an Implicit Particle in Cell Simulation Driven by A Global MHD simulation, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-10216, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10216, 2023.
