Model-Data Comparison for the Kinetic-Scale Energy and Momentum Transport Experiment (KiNET-X)

KiNET-X was an ionospheric barium release active plasma experiment. It's the first of its kind to feature high resolution ground based observations along with multi-point multi-instrument in-situ measurements. As expected, parallel electric fields were observed indicating a non-ideal coupling between the barium ion clouds and the ambient plasma. An electron beam of energy comparable to the cross cloud potential was also observed that may help elucidate the mechanism of inefficient coupling. We seek to understand 1) how momentum transport is affected by ion kinetic-scale physics, 2) how electromagnetic energy is converted into plasma kinetic and thermal energy, 3) the interplay between fluid- and kinetic-scales, and 4) how electrons are energized during the pickup process. To that end, we present three-dimensional hybrid simulations that reproduce the conditions of the experiment and use the observed neutral density profiles of the barium release clouds as an input. We compare these simulations with the experimental results.