Related papers: Studying dawn-dusk asymmetries of Mercury's magnet…
We use the results of a three-dimensional kinetic simulation of an Harris current sheet to propose an explanation and to reproduce the ISEE-1/2, Geotail, and Cluster observations of the magnetotail current sheet structure. Current sheet…
The magnetopause is a current sheet forming the boundary between the geomagnetic field on one side and the shocked solar wind on the other side. This paper discusses properties of the low-latitude dawn and dusk flanks of the magnetopause.…
Recent high resolution observations by the {\it Chandra} X-ray satellite revealed various substructures in hot X-ray emitting plasmas in cluster of galaxies. For example, {\it Chandra} revealed the existence of sharp discontinuities in the…
Kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are used to identify signatures of the electron diffusion region (EDR) and its surroundings during asymmetric magnetic reconnection. A "shoulder" in the sunward pointing normal electric field (EN > 0) at…
The terrestrial magnetopause is the boundary that shields the Earth's magnetosphere on one side from the shocked solar wind and its embedded interplanetary magnetic field on the other side. In this paper, we show observations from two of…
The outflowing magnetized wind from a host star shapes planetary and exoplanetary magnetospheres dictating the extent of its impact. We carry out three-dimensional (3D) compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the interactions…
The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has given us unprecedented access to high cadence particle and field data of magnetic reconnection at Earth's magnetopause. MMS first passed very near an X-line on 16 October 2015, the Burch…
Space plasma simulations have seen an increase in the use of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) with embedded Particle-in-Cell (PIC) models. This combined MHD-EPIC algorithm simulates some regions of interest using the kinetic PIC method while…
Both physical arguments and simulations of the global heliosphere indicate that the tailward heliopause is flattened considerably in the direction perpendicular to both the incoming flow and the large-scale interstellar magnetic field.…
The aim of this research is to simulate the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetic field of Mercury and to study the particle fluxes between the magnetosheath and the planet surface. We simulate the magnetosphere structure using…
The Earth's magnetotail, located on the night side of the magnetosphere, is a dynamic region where magnetic field energy is released and converted into plasma heating, particle acceleration, and kinetic energy through magnetic reconnection.…
We test and compare a number of existing models predicting the location of magnetic reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause for various solar wind conditions. We employ robust image processing techniques to determine the locations…
We have used the high-resolution data of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission dayside phase to identify twenty-one previously unreported encounters with the electron diffusion region (EDR), as evidenced by electron agyrotropy, ion…
Electron heating and mixing during asymmetric reconnection are studied with a 3D kinetic simulation that matches plasma parameters from Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft observations of a magnetopause diffusion region. The mixing…
We present results from three-dimensional (3-D) numerical simulations investigating the magnetohydrodynamics of cloud-wind interactions. The initial cloud is spherical while the magnetic field is uniform and transverse to the cloud motion.…
Field-aligned currents in the Earth's magnetotail are traditionally associated with transient plasma flows and strong plasma pressure gradients in the near-Earth side. In this paper we demonstrate a new field-aligned current system present…
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process that alters the magnetic field topology and releases magnetic energy. Most numerical simulations and spacecraft observations assume a two-dimensional diffusion region, with the electron…
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, possesses a weak intrinsic magnetic field and has only a very tenuous atmosphere (exosphere). These three conditions result in a direct coupling between the plasma emitted from the Sun (namely the…
We study with particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations the stability of fast magnetosonic shocks. They expand across a collisionless plasma and an orthogonal magnetic field that is aligned with one of the directions resolved by the 2D…
We consider astrophysical maser radiation that is created in the presence of mildly supersonic, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. The focus is on the OH masers for which the magnetic field is strong enough that the separations of the…