Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations
Over three decades of in-situ observations illustrate that the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability driven by the sheared flow between the magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma often occurs on the magnetopause of Earth and other planets under various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. It...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-11-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.758442/full |
| _version_ | 1818823040255918080 |
|---|---|
| author | Xuanye Ma Peter Delamere Katariina Nykyri Brandon Burkholder Stefan Eriksson Yu-Lun Liou |
| author_facet | Xuanye Ma Peter Delamere Katariina Nykyri Brandon Burkholder Stefan Eriksson Yu-Lun Liou |
| author_sort | Xuanye Ma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over three decades of in-situ observations illustrate that the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability driven by the sheared flow between the magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma often occurs on the magnetopause of Earth and other planets under various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. It has been well demonstrated that the KH instability plays an important role for energy, momentum, and mass transport during the solar-wind-magnetosphere coupling process. Particularly, the KH instability is an important mechanism to trigger secondary small scale (i.e., often kinetic-scale) physical processes, such as magnetic reconnection, kinetic Alfvén waves, ion-acoustic waves, and turbulence, providing the bridge for the coupling of cross scale physical processes. From the simulation perspective, to fully investigate the role of the KH instability on the cross-scale process requires a numerical modeling that can describe the physical scales from a few Earth radii to a few ion (even electron) inertial lengths in three dimensions, which is often computationally expensive. Thus, different simulation methods are required to explore physical processes on different length scales, and cross validate the physical processes which occur on the overlapping length scales. Test particle simulation provides such a bridge to connect the MHD scale to the kinetic scale. This study applies different test particle approaches and cross validates the different results against one another to investigate the behavior of different ion species (i.e., H+ and O+), which include particle distributions, mixing and heating. It shows that the ion transport rate is about 1025 particles/s, and mixing diffusion coefficient is about 1010 m2 s−1 regardless of the ion species. Magnetic field lines change their topology via the magnetic reconnection process driven by the three-dimensional KH instability, connecting two flux tubes with different temperature, which eventually causes anisotropic temperature in the newly reconnected flux. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T23:33:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-54798c8ca6f943e3b92ef29fbbe5aa4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-987X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T23:33:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-54798c8ca6f943e3b92ef29fbbe5aa4e2022-12-21T20:47:38ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences2296-987X2021-11-01810.3389/fspas.2021.758442758442Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle SimulationsXuanye Ma0Peter Delamere1Katariina Nykyri2Brandon Burkholder3Stefan Eriksson4Yu-Lun Liou5Center for Space and Atmospheric Research, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, United StatesGeophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United StatesCenter for Space and Atmospheric Research, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, United StatesCenter for Space and Atmospheric Research, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, United StatesLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United StatesCenter for Space and Atmospheric Research, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, United StatesOver three decades of in-situ observations illustrate that the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability driven by the sheared flow between the magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma often occurs on the magnetopause of Earth and other planets under various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. It has been well demonstrated that the KH instability plays an important role for energy, momentum, and mass transport during the solar-wind-magnetosphere coupling process. Particularly, the KH instability is an important mechanism to trigger secondary small scale (i.e., often kinetic-scale) physical processes, such as magnetic reconnection, kinetic Alfvén waves, ion-acoustic waves, and turbulence, providing the bridge for the coupling of cross scale physical processes. From the simulation perspective, to fully investigate the role of the KH instability on the cross-scale process requires a numerical modeling that can describe the physical scales from a few Earth radii to a few ion (even electron) inertial lengths in three dimensions, which is often computationally expensive. Thus, different simulation methods are required to explore physical processes on different length scales, and cross validate the physical processes which occur on the overlapping length scales. Test particle simulation provides such a bridge to connect the MHD scale to the kinetic scale. This study applies different test particle approaches and cross validates the different results against one another to investigate the behavior of different ion species (i.e., H+ and O+), which include particle distributions, mixing and heating. It shows that the ion transport rate is about 1025 particles/s, and mixing diffusion coefficient is about 1010 m2 s−1 regardless of the ion species. Magnetic field lines change their topology via the magnetic reconnection process driven by the three-dimensional KH instability, connecting two flux tubes with different temperature, which eventually causes anisotropic temperature in the newly reconnected flux.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.758442/fullKelvin-Helmholtz instabilitytest particle simulationion accelerationmagnetopauseMHD simulation |
| spellingShingle | Xuanye Ma Peter Delamere Katariina Nykyri Brandon Burkholder Stefan Eriksson Yu-Lun Liou Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences Kelvin-Helmholtz instability test particle simulation ion acceleration magnetopause MHD simulation |
| title | Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations |
| title_full | Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations |
| title_fullStr | Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations |
| title_short | Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations |
| title_sort | ion dynamics in the meso scale 3 d kelvin helmholtz instability perspectives from test particle simulations |
| topic | Kelvin-Helmholtz instability test particle simulation ion acceleration magnetopause MHD simulation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.758442/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xuanyema iondynamicsinthemesoscale3dkelvinhelmholtzinstabilityperspectivesfromtestparticlesimulations AT peterdelamere iondynamicsinthemesoscale3dkelvinhelmholtzinstabilityperspectivesfromtestparticlesimulations AT katariinanykyri iondynamicsinthemesoscale3dkelvinhelmholtzinstabilityperspectivesfromtestparticlesimulations AT brandonburkholder iondynamicsinthemesoscale3dkelvinhelmholtzinstabilityperspectivesfromtestparticlesimulations AT stefaneriksson iondynamicsinthemesoscale3dkelvinhelmholtzinstabilityperspectivesfromtestparticlesimulations AT yulunliou iondynamicsinthemesoscale3dkelvinhelmholtzinstabilityperspectivesfromtestparticlesimulations |