HR: 1340h
AN: SM33C-0461    [Abstracts]
TI: Plasma Energization in Ganymede's Magnetotail
AU: * Paty, C
EM: cpaty@u.washington.edu
AF: University of Washington, Dept of Earth and Space Sciences Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195-1310 United States
AU: Winglee, R
EM: winglee@ess.washington.edu
AF: University of Washington, Dept of Earth and Space Sciences Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195-1310 United States
AU: Paterson, W
EM: bill.paterson@hamptonu.edu
AF: Hampton University, Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton, VA 23668 United States
AB: Observations of aurora at the icy Galilean satellite Ganymede and at its magnetic footprint near Jupiter's auroral oval have inspired many questions pertaining to plasma acceleration mechanisms of this rare magnetosphere-magnetosphere interaction. This particular system is also unique because it is currently the only know example of a sub-Alfv‚nic magnetized plasma incident upon a magnetosphere. We investigate the interaction of Ganymede's magnetosphere with the surrounding co-rotational magnetosphere of Jupiter using 3D multi-fluid simulations, which allow tracking of several plasma species and their differential acceleration. High resolution simulations enable a complete treatment of the ion cyclotron motion as well as the resultant acceleration of the different ion species with various charge-to-mass ratios which are present in Ganymede's near space environment. Specifically, we examine the how light and heavy mass ions from ionospheric outflow mix and interact in Ganymede's magnetotail, and the acceleration mechanisms that lead to particle precipitation, aurora and sputtering. The simulations are compared to observations made by multiple instruments on the Galileo spacecraft and the STIS on Hubble Space Telescope in order to groundtruth the results and our conclusions.
DE: 2716 Energetic particles: precipitating
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 6222 Ganymede
DE: 7846 Plasma energization
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005