Full Particle-in-Cell Simulation on a Small-Scale Magnetosphere Using Uniform and Nested Grid Systems

概要

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Solar wind interaction with an artificial magnetosphere is investigated by means of a full particle-in-cell simulation. The resultant momentum transfer of solar wind plasmas may provide the propulsive force for a magnetic sail, which is a potential next-generation interplanetary flight system. These simulations are performed using two different simulation codes. One is a traditional code employing a uniform grid system, and the other is a newly developed code with an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique. Even in a small magnetosphere having a scale smaller than the ion inertia length, ions are scattered at the front of the magnetosphere. In this region, an electron-scale current structure is observed, and the electromagnetic interaction with the coil current density, which creates the magnetosphere, causes a propulsive force. The current density structure observed in the AMR simulation is in good agreement with that resulting from the traditional code. The AMR code is expected to be a powerful tool to demonstrate this solar wind interaction under realistic conditions at a reasonable numerical cost.