Collisionless Transport at the Magnetopause: Linear Theory and Particle Simulations

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The investigators will perform a detailed analysis of the transport process at the magnetopause. The magnetopause is a complex boundary which separates the shocked solar wind from the Earth's magnetosphere. Understanding the processes by which plasma crosses the boundary remains a key problem in magnetospheric physics. Since the reconnection process is the dominant means of transport at the magnetopause, most of the effort will be directed at the understanding of the role of collisionless tearing/coalescence instabilities as an onset mechanism for reconnection and the resulting transport. By incorporating effects such as velocity shear and thermal anisotropies, a much better understanding of the reconnection process at the magnetopause can be gained. The primary tools for the investigation are state-of-the-art kinetic numerical simulations and a linear particle-in-cell code.