Particle-in-Cell Simulations of Plasma Dynamics in Cometary Environment. (May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sishtla, Chaitanya Prasad; Olshevsky, Vyacheslav; Chien, Steven W. D.; Markidis, Stefano; Laure, Erwin
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 1225(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-05
• Subjects: Physics -- Congresses; 530.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1225/1/012009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-6588

Abstract

Abstract: We perform and analyze global Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations of the interaction between solar wind and an outgassing comet with the goal of studying the plasma kinetic dynamics of a cometary environment. To achieve this, we design and implement a new numerical method in the iPIC3D code to model outgassing from the comet: new plasma particles are ejected from the comet "surface" at each computational cycle. Our simulations show that a bow shock is formed as a result of the interaction between solar wind and outgassed particles. The analysis of distribution functions for the PIC simulations shows that at the bow shock part of the incoming solar wind, ions are reflected while electrons are heated. This work attempts to reveal kinetic effects in the atmosphere of an outgassing comet using a fully kinetic Particle-in-Cell model.