Plasma expansion in the presence of a dipole magnetic field

Abstract

Simulations of the initial expansion of a plasma injected into a stationary magnetized background plasma in the presence of a dipole magnetic field are carried out in two dimensions with a kinetic ion, massless fluid electron (hybrid) electromagnetic code. For small values of the magnetic dipole, the injected ions have large gyroradii compared to the scale length of the dipole field and are essentially unmagnetized. As a result, these ions expand, excluding the ambient magnetic field and plasma to form a diamagnetic cavity. However, for stronger magnetic dipoles, the ratio of the gyroradii of the injected ions to the dipole field scale length is small so that they remain magnetized, and hence trapped in the dipole field, as they expand. The trapping and expansion then lead to additional plasma currents and resulting magnetic fields that not only exclude the background field but also interact with the dipole field in a more complex manner that stretches the closed dipole field lines. A criterion to distinguish between the two regimes is derived and is then briefly discussed in the context of applying the results to the plasma sail scheme for the propulsion of small spacecraft in the solar wind.