A Simulation of Energy Exchange from Magnetotail Reconnection to the Inner Magnetosphere

We have used a particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulation combined with a global MHD simulation to investigate energy transport from reconnection in the magnetotail to the inner magnetosphere. Initially, we ran an MHD simulation driven by nominal solar wind parameters and southward IMF. After reconnection starts in the magnetotail, we loaded the PIC simulation with plasma based on the MHD parameters. The PIC simulation extended from the solar wind outside of the bow shock to beyond the reconnection region in the tail and was run for 1m 47s. During that time, particles from the reconnection region reached the inner magnetosphere. We evaluated the transport of energy by examining the ion and electron energy fluxes, the Poynting flux and the changes in the particle and electromagnetic power densities in the simulation box as functions of time. We evaluated the changes in the energy densities by examining the divergences of the ion and electron energy fluxes and the Poynting flux. The particles move earthward in narrow channels like bursty-bulk-flows (BBFs). The Poynting power density is smaller than the ion particle power density. The ion kinetic power density is larger than the thermal power density. The energy exchange between kinetic energy and thermal energy is determined by the off-diagonal terms in the pressure tensor.