Ganymede's interaction with the jovian plasma from hybrid simulation
Résumé
Ganymede is a unique object: it is the biggest moon of our solar system, and the only satellite which has its own intrinsic magnetic field leading to the formation of a small magnetosphere. The magnetosphere of Ganymede being embedded in the Jovian magnetosphere, the environment of the Galilean moon presents the only known case of interaction between two magnetospheres (Kivelson et al. 1996). This peculiar interaction has been investigated by means of a 3D parallel multi-species hybrid model based on a CAM-CL algorithm (Mathews et al. 1994). This generic model has been largely used for other magnetized or unmagnetized bodies such as Mars (Modolo et al. 2005; 2006 and 2012), Titan (Modolo et al. 2007, Modolo and Chauteur 2008) or Mercury (Richer et al. 2012). IIn this formalism, ions have a kinetic description whereas electrons are considered as an inertialess fluid which ensure the neutrality of the plasma and contribute to the total current and electronic pressure. Maxwell's equations are solved to compute the temporal evolution of electromagnetic field. The hybrid simulation describes the dynamics of the magnetospheric plasma, composed of O+ and H+ ions, and Ganymede's ionospheric plasma (W+, H2+, H+). Similarly to Paty and Winglee (2004), a density profile with a scale height of 125km of the ionospheric plasma is loaded and feeded during the simulation. Charge exchange leading to H2+ and H+ are also computed. To represent Ganymede's magnetosphere a magnetic dipole is implemented at initialization with dipolar moments values taken from Kivelson et al, 2002. This dipole is progressively distorted and lead to the formal of the mini-magnetopshere. Simulation results also emphasize the presence of Alfvén wings and are in good agreement with other simulation results (Jia et al, 2008, Paty et al, 2008). Hybrid simulations are performed on a uniform cartesian grid with a spatial resolution of about 200 km. Simulations results are presented and compared to magnetometer and particle observations obtained during G1 and G2 Galileo flybys.