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Global magnetohydrodynamic magnetosphere simulation with an adaptively embedded particle-in-cell model
  • Xiantong Wang,
  • Yuxi Chen,
  • Gábor Tóth
Xiantong Wang
University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yuxi Chen
University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan
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Gábor Tóth
University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan, University of Michigan
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Abstract

We perform a geomagnetic event simulation using a newly developed magnetohydrodynamic with adaptively embedded particle-in-cell (MHD-AEPIC) model. We have developed effective criteria to identify reconnection sites in the magnetotail and cover them with the PIC model. The MHD-AEPIC simulation results are compared with Hall MHD and ideal MHD simulations to study the impacts of kinetic reconnection at multiple physical scales. At the global scale, the three models produce very similar SYM-H and SuperMag Electrojet (SME) indexes, which indicates that the global magnetic field configurations from the three models are very close to each other. We also compare the ionospheric solver results and all three models generate similar polar cap potentials and field aligned currents. At the mesoscale we compare the simulations with in situ Geotail observations in the tail. All three models produce reasonable agreement with the Geotail observations. At the kinetic scales, the MHD-AEPIC simulation can produce a crescent shape distribution of the electron velocity space at the electron diffusion region which agrees very well with MMS observations near a tail reconnection site. These electron scale kinetic features are not available in either the Hall MHD or ideal MHD models. Overall, the MHD-AEPIC model compares well with observations at all scales, it works robustly, and the computational cost is acceptable due to the adaptive adjustment of the PIC domain. It remains to be determined whether kinetic physics can play a more significant role in other types of events, including but not limited to substorms.
Aug 2022Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics volume 127 issue 8. 10.1029/2021JA030091