Modeling the Effect of Solar Wind Forcing on a Saturn-like Exoplanet

Planetary magnetospheres can be roughly categorized as being externally forced or internally driven. This classification depends on what processes most strongly influence the behavior and dynamics of the system, such as stellar wind activity (external) or heavy-ion injection and co-rotation (internal). We use a 3D multi-fluid/multi-scale simulation to model the magnetosphere of a Saturn-like exoplanet orbiting single stellar hosts of multiple spectral types. While holding stellar and other planetary parameters constant, the planetary orbital semi-major axis is varied from 10 AU down to a fraction of an AU. We investigate the effect of increased stellar wind dynamic ram pressure on magnetospheric characteristics such as: periodicity of plasmoid formation and ejection, location of the reconnection region, size of co-rotation region, magnetic field aligned currents and possible modulation of auroral radio emission.