Plasma waves in a global ion-kinetic hybrid simulation for Mercury's space weather

We present analyses of plasma wave modes in our global hybrid particle-in-cell simulation code, RHybrid, for flowing planetary plasma interactions. The model treats ions as macroscopic particle clouds moving under the Lorentz force while electrons are a charge-neutralising, massless fluid. Magnetic field is advanced by Faraday's law and coupled self-consistently with ion dynamics (ion charge density and ion electric current density) via non-radiative Maxwell's equations. We describe analyses of several test cases, like random initial conditions and backstreaming suprathermal populations, compared against known solutions, observations and previous results from local and global modeling, including Mercury-type solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field conditions. The results show dispersion relations, parameter correlations, polarisations and more. We discuss the accuracy of modelling of theoretical results, including properties of whistler, Alfvén and magnetosonic waves, and ion-ion streaming instabilities in RHybrid. With this work, we prepare for further development of the Finnish Meteorological Institute's free and open source space weather particle simulation platforms, and for the interpretation of upcoming observations from the BepiColombo mission.