HR: 1330h
AN: SM52B-0575    [PDF]
TI: Macrostructure of the Quasi-Parallel Shock and Magnetosheath: 1. Scale Lengths
AU: * Omidi, N
EM: nomidi@ece.ucsd.edu
AF: Dept. of ECE, MC0407 UCSD, La Jolla, ca 92093 United States
AU: Blanco-Cano, X
EM: xhochitlbc@yahoo.com
AF: UNAM, Instituto de Geofisica Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Coyoacan Mexico
AU: Karimabadi, H
EM: homa@ece.ucsd.edu
AF: Dept. of ECE, MC0407 UCSD, La Jolla, ca 92093 United States
AU: Russell, C
EM: ctrussell@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: IGPP, UCLA 405 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, ca 90095 United States
AB: Recently, we have utilized global hybrid (fluid electrons, kinetic ions) simulations of solar wind interaction with magnetic dipoles of various strength to demonstrate the existence of a spectrum of magnetospheric structures. Starting with a simple whistler wake, increasing the dipole strength results in magnetospheric structures which grow in complexity until a terrestrial type magnetosphere is formed. This occurs when the system size is considerably larger than ion gyroradii, specifically when the standoff distance of the magnetopause is at least 20 times the solar wind proton skin depth. In this study, we use a similar approach to understand the macrostructures of the quasi-parallel shock and the magnetosheath and their evolution as a function of system size. These macrostructures are directly tied to ion kinetic processes and microinstabilities which occur in the ion foreshock and the magnetosheath. As a result, the spatial extent of both regions influence the nature of system. Our objective is to establish the spatial scales associated with various kinetic processes in the ion foreshock and the quasi-parallel magnetosheath and determine the spatial scales beyond which the system has a self-similar solution.
DE: 2154 Planetary bow shocks
DE: 2728 Magnetosheath
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting