Philippe Savoini
LPP, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, UPMC, LPP, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, UPMC, LPP, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, UPMC, LPP, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, UPMC
Author ProfileClément Moissard
LPP, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, UPMC, LPP, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, UPMC, LPP, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, UPMC, LPP, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, UPMC
Author ProfileAbstract
Solar transients impinging on Earth’s magnetosphere often present a
larger velocity than the surrounding solar wind, leading to a different
response of the bow shock-magnetosheath system. As such, we intend to
provide a systematic study of the global effects of different solar wind
Mach numbers in a pure quasi-perpendicular configuration with a
realistic three-dimensional terrestrial-like curved bow shock.
Simulations have been performed with the hybrid code LatHyS, which is
based on the widely used CAM-CL scheme. In particular, we have studied
the interaction with the terrestrial magnetosphere of a solar wind at
different Alfvénic Mach numbers and low-beta (less than unity, ratio
between the thermal to the magnetic pressures). One of most noteworthy
outcome is the generation of an intense rippling phenomenon propagating
along the bow shock surface as the incoming Mach number increases. A
similar rippling has been observed in-situ with satellites, as well as
studied with computer simulations. However, the latter have mainly
addressed by adopting ad-hoc planar-shock initial configurations, which
still leaves poor knowledge of the possible effects on a global
three-dimensional curved interaction. Our analysis then is expected to
provide further insights into both the macroscopic and kinetic effects
of different incoming solar wind conditions on the overall planetary
bow-shock and magnetosheath structure.