Soft X‐ray imaging of Earth's dayside magnetosheath and cusps using hybrid simulations
Date
2023-05-28
Authors
Ng, J.
Walsh, BM.
Chen, L.‐J.
Omelchenko, Y.
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
J. Ng, B.M. Walsh, L. Chen, Y. Omelchenko. 2023. "Soft X‐Ray Imaging of Earth's Dayside Magnetosheath and Cusps Using Hybrid Simulations" Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 50, Issue 10. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gl103347
Abstract
Interactions between solar wind ions and neutral hydrogen atoms in Earth's exosphere can lead to the emission of soft X‐rays. Upcoming missions such as SMILE and LEXI aim to use soft X‐ray imaging to study the global structure of the magnetosphere. Although the magnetosheath and dayside magnetopause can often be driven by kinetic physics, it has typically been omitted from fluid simulations used to predict X‐ray emissions. We study the possible results of soft X‐ray imaging using hybrid simulations under quasi‐radial interplanetary magnetic fields, where ion‐ion instabilities drive ultra‐low frequency foreshock waves, leading to turbulence in the magnetosheath, affecting the dynamics of the cusp and magnetopause. We simulate soft X‐ray emission to determine what may be seen by missions such as LEXI, and evaluate the possibility of identifying kinetic structures. While kinetic structures are visible in high‐cadence imaging, current instruments may not have the time resolution to discern kinetic signals.
Description
License
© 2023 The Authors.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.