Sensitivity of the Earth Magnetosphere to the Solar Wind Activity: 3D Macroparticle Model

A new approach is proposed to study the sensitivity of the Earth Magnetosphere to the variability of the Solar Wind bulk velocity. A numerical particles in cell (PIC) method initially proposed by Buneman (1993) has been adopted and modified to carry out the study. Space was stretched as cubic boxes of dimension 155x105x105 Re filled with 2 million of Solar Wind particles, with Earth is located at 60x52x53 Re. The magnetic field of Earth was hypothetically set to zero, and then switched on. The formation of the magnetospheric cavity and its elongation around the planet was observed to evolve with time until a steady state topology of the system is attained with the classical structure of a magnetosphere. We also found that the cavity is repopulated by clouds of particles from the Solar Wind, producing the current sheet-- a thin plasma sheet that stands at the equatorial plane. The study was carried out with the very basic elements of the interaction processes as described by Maxwell and Lorentz equations. IMF was then included as a steady southward magnetic field. Drift velocity of the Solar Wind was changed to simulate compression/depression of the system. 3-D analysis of the response of the magnetosphere dayside to that variation was studied, and the corresponding relaxation time of the magnetopause interface was measured. In response to the Solar Wind drift velocity imposed drop-off, a ~ 15 Re gap in the incoming Solar Wind plasma appeared moving toward Earth. As soon as the gap hit the initial shock of the steady magnetosphere, a reconnection between the Earth magnetic field and IMF was noticed at the dayside magnetopause when IMF was included. Injection of nightside of the magnetosphere by energetic particles due to magnetic erosion and reconnection is observed. During the expansion phase of the disturbance, the outer boundary of the dayside magnetopause broke up during the absence of the IMF as it responded to the reduction of the ram pressure, whilst sustained its bullet shape with a thin layer of plasma walling its boundary when a southward IMF was included. The expansion/contraction of the magnetopause nose position side was almost linear in the absence of IMF but shrank when IMF was included. Thanks to the complete view provided by the PIC code on particles and fields present in the system, a simple statistical and time analysis is presented aimed to explain the forces and physics processes in play during the travel of the depression gap through the simulation box. The system recovered to its initial state on the dayside soon after the impulse disturbance was beyond the Earth position