Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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EP: Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 19: Poster-Session II: Sonnenphysik, Planeten und kleine Körper

EP 19.6: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2005, 09:00–19:00, Poster TU BH

3D resistive two-ion fluid simulations of solar-wind plasma interactions — •Andreas Kopp^1,2 and Konrad Sauer² — ¹Astronomisches Institut, Ruhr-Universität Bochum — ²Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Katlenburg-Lindau

The interaction of the solar wind plasma with the mass-loaded plasma around comets, the terrestrial planets or Titan has been well described with numerous MHD simulation models. The plasma used in these models is either simply the proton plasma of the solar wind or an artificial plasma consisting of ions with the average mass number of protons and the main species in the atmosphere of the respective object. In order to demonstrate that the use of a single fluid is an oversimplifying assumption, three-dimensional, resitive multi-fluid simulations were performed in which the two plasma species as well as the (massless) electrons are treated as individual species. The simulation results for weak comets and Titan are compared with a model in which all three species move with their common center-of-mass velocity. Significant differences are revealed that at least put into question the one-fluid models.