A Comparison of Particle-in-cell and Hybrid Simulations of the Heliospheric Termination Shock

Autor: M. Swisdak, J. Giacalone, J. F. Drake, M. Opher, G. P. Zank, B. Zieger
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 959, Iss 1, p 4 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1538-4357
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad03e2
Popis: We compare hybrid (kinetic proton, fluid electron) and particle-in-cell (kinetic proton, kinetic electron) simulations of the solar wind termination shock with parameters similar to those observed by Voyager 2 during its crossing. The steady-state results show excellent agreement between the downstream variations in the density, plasma velocity, and magnetic field. The quasi-perpendicular shock accelerates interstellar pickup ions to a maximum energy limited by the size of the computational domain, with somewhat higher fluxes and maximal energies observed in the particle-in-cell simulation, likely due to differences in the cross-shock electric field arising from electron kinetic-scale effects. The higher fluxes may help address recent discrepancies noted between observations and large-scale hybrid simulations.
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