3D Dynamics of Magnetopause Reconnection Using Hall-MHD Global Simulations

Magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause and in the magnetotail is of crucial importance for the dynamics of the global magnetosphere and space weather. Even though the plasma conditions in the magnetosphere are largely in the collisionless regime, most of the existing research using global computational models employ single-fluid magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) with artificial resistivity. Studies of reconnection in simplified, two-dimensional geometries have established that two-fluid and kinetic effects can dramatically alter dynamics and reconnection rates when compared with single-fluid models. These enhanced models also introduce particular signatures, for example a quadrupolar out-of-plane magnetic field component that has already been observed in space by satellite measurements. However, results from simplified geometries cannot be translated directly to the dynamics of three-dimensional magnetospheric reconnection. For instance, magnetic flux originating from the solar wind and arriving at the magnetopause can either reconnect or be advected around the magnetosphere. In this study, we use a new version of the OpenGGCM code that incorporates the Hall term in a Generalized Ohm's Law to study magnetopause reconnection under synthetic solar wind conditions and investigate how reconnection rates and dynamics of flux transfer events depend on the strength of the Hall term. The OpenGGCM, a global model of Earth's magnetosphere, has recently been ported to exploit modern computing architectures like the Cell processor and SIMD capabilities of conventional processors using an automatic code generator. These enhancements provide us with the performance needed to include the computationally expensive Hall physics.