Laser-plasma simulations of artificial magnetosphere formed by giant coronal mass ejections

Abstract

We employed the laboratory (Laser-Produced Plasmas, LPP) and numerical (3D/PIC-code) simulations to study the resulting state of very strong compression of magnetopause (MP) by CME with effective energy E ₀≥10³⁴ ergs directed to the Earth. During probable formation of an Artificial Magnetosphere (AM, in a flow of CME’ plasma around the Earth) with the MP stand-off at R _mp up to (2–3)R _E , many catastrophic phenomena could occur in a space and ground networks due to very high curl electric fields induced by world-wide magnetic field’s changes with a SC-rate >50 nT/s. The laboratory models of AM (with R _mp ∼0.1–30 cm) were formed around high-field, 1D and 3D magnetic obstacles, overflowing by LPP-blobs with E ₀ up to kJ and magnetized ions. The shape and internal structure of a large-scale AM were studied at KI-1 facility of the Russian team using a set of B-dot magnetic probes, while the main goal of UT’s small-AM experiment was to explore a possible shock’s generation and relevant electron acceleration. Preliminary results of KI-1 experiments show that the both R _m -size and SC (E ₀) of AM could be described by modified Chapman-Ferraro Scaling, while the whole SC-distribution (in front “one-half” of equatorial plane)—by well-known “Image Dipole” model of the Earth’s magnetopause field.