Numerical study of magnetic island coalescence using magnetohydrodynamics with adaptively embedded particle-in-cell model
Source abstract
Abstract
Collisionless magnetic reconnection typically requires kinetic treatment that is, in general, computationally expensive compared to fluid-based models. In this study, we use the magnetohydrodynamics with an adaptively embedded particle-in-cell (MHD-AEPIC) model to study the interaction of two magnetic flux ropes. This innovative model embeds one or more adaptive PIC regions into a global MHD simulation domain such that the kinetic treatment is only applied in regions where the kinetic physics is prominent. We compare the simulation results among three cases: (1) MHD with adaptively embedded PIC regions, (2) MHD with statically (or fixed) embedded PIC regions, and (3) a full PIC simulation. The comparison yields good agreement when analyzing their reconnection rates and magnetic island separations as well as the ion pressure tensor elements and ion agyrotropy. In order to reach good agreement among the three cases, large adaptive PIC regions are needed within the MHD domain, which indicates that the magnetic island coalescence problem is highly kinetic in nature, where the coupling between the macro-scale MHD and micro-scale kinetic physics is important.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics · Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics · Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan 1 , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
2Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA
3Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
4Department of Astronomy, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
5Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
Funding
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory · Office of Science · NASA Headquarters · Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
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