Multi‐Fluid MHD Simulations of Europa's Plasma Interaction Under Different Magnetospheric Conditions

Harris, Camilla D. K.; Jia, Xianzhe; Slavin, James A.; Toth, Gabor; Huang, Zhenguang; Rubin, Martin (2021). Multi‐Fluid MHD Simulations of Europa's Plasma Interaction Under Different Magnetospheric Conditions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 126(5) AGU Publications 10.1029/2020JA028888

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Europa hosts a periodically changing plasma interaction driven by the variations of Jupiter's magnetic field and magnetospheric plasma. We have developed a multi-fluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model for Europa to characterize the global configuration of the plasma interaction with the moon and its tenuous atmosphere. The model solves the multi-fluid MHD equations for electrons and three ion fluids (Jupiter's magnetospheric O+, as well as O+ and O2+ originating from Europa's atmosphere) while incorporating sources and losses in the MHD equations due to electron impact and photo-ionization, charge exchange, recombination and other relevant collisional effects. Using input parameters constrained by the Galileo magnetic field and plasma observations, we first demonstrate the accuracy of our model by simulating the Galileo E4 and E14 flybys, which took place under different upstream conditions and sampled different regions of Europa's interaction. Our model produces 3D magnetic field and plasma bulk parameters that agree with and provide context for the flyby observations. We next present the results of a parameter study of Europa's plasma interaction at three different excursions from Jupiter's central plasma sheet, for three different global magnetospheric states, comprising nine steady-state simulations. By separately tracking multiple ion fluids, our MHD model allows us to quantify the access of the Jovian magnetospheric plasma to Europa's surface and determine how that access is affected by changing magnetospheric conditions. We find that the thermal magnetospheric O+ precipitation rate ranges from (1.8–26) × 1024 ions/s, and that the precipitation rate increases with the density of the ambient magnetospheric plasma.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute

UniBE Contributor:

Rubin, Martin

Subjects:

500 Science > 520 Astronomy
600 Technology > 620 Engineering
500 Science > 530 Physics

ISSN:

2169-9380

Publisher:

AGU Publications

Language:

English

Submitter:

Dora Ursula Zimmerer

Date Deposited:

13 Aug 2021 14:28

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:52

Publisher DOI:

10.1029/2020JA028888

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/158173

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/158173

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