Collisionless Transport at the Magnetopause: Linear Theory and Particle Simulations

研究人员将对磁层顶的运输过程进行详细分析。 磁层顶是一个复杂的边界，它将受到冲击的太阳风与地球的磁层分隔开来。 了解等离子体穿越边界的过程仍然是磁层物理学中的一个关键问题。 由于重联过程是在磁层顶的主要交通工具，大部分的努力将是针对的作用的碰撞撕裂/合并不稳定性的理解作为一个发病机制的重联和由此产生的运输。 通过引入速度剪切和热各向异性等效应，可以更好地理解磁层顶的重联过程。 调查的主要工具是国家的最先进的动力学数值模拟和线性粒子在细胞的代码。

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.