Mesoscale Kinetic Simulations of the Potential Structures in the Auroral Return Current Plasma

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This project will use a 2.5-dimension parallel-particle-in-cell (PPIC) computer code to simulate the interaction of Alfven waves and plasma in the ionosphere. The simulations will be driven either by imposed current sheets or by imposed perpendicular electric fields as boundary conditions. Accelerated electrons and ions in the structure drive waves which in turn affect the charged particles. The waves and particles react back on the potential structure. The simulation thus provides a self-consistent feedback loop. The technique will be used to study (1) the electrodynamics of two-dimensional auroral mesoscale potential structures in the return current region, (2) the formation of double layers, (3) the processes which generate counter streaming electrons, (4) transverse ion acceleration, and (5) the role of electron phase-space density holes in magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling.