 |
| Titel |
Real-time 3-D hybrid simulation of Titan's plasma interaction during a solar wind excursion |
| VerfasserIn |
S. Simon |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| ISSN |
0992-7689
|
| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Annales Geophysicae ; 27, no. 9 ; Nr. 27, no. 9 (2009-09-01), S.3349-3365 |
| Datensatznummer |
250016635
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/angeo-27-3349-2009.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| The plasma environment of Saturn's largest satellite Titan is known to be
highly variable. Since Titan's orbit is located within the outer
magnetosphere of Saturn, the moon can leave the region dominated by the
magnetic field of its parent body in times of high solar wind dynamic
pressure and interact with the thermalized magnetosheath plasma or even with
the unshocked solar wind. By applying a three-dimensional hybrid simulation
code (kinetic description of ions, fluid electrons), we study in real-time
the transition that Titan's plasma environment undergoes when the moon leaves
Saturn's magnetosphere and enters the supermagnetosonic solar wind. In the
simulation, the transition between both plasma regimes is mimicked by a
reversal of the magnetic field direction as well as a change in the
composition and temperature of the impinging plasma flow. When the satellite
enters the solar wind, the magnetic draping pattern in its vicinity is
reconfigured due to reconnection, with the characteristic time scale of this
process being determined by the convection of the field lines in the
undisturbed plasma flow at the flanks of the interaction region. The build-up
of a bow shock ahead of Titan takes place on a typical time scale of a few
minutes as well. We also analyze the erosion of the newly formed shock front
upstream of Titan that commences when the moon re-enters the submagnetosonic
plasma regime of Saturn's magnetosphere. Although the model presented here
is far from governing the full complexity of Titan's plasma interaction
during a solar wind excursion, the simulation provides important insights
into general plasma-physical processes associated
with such a disruptive change of the upstream flow conditions. |
| |
|
| Teil von |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|