Magnetohydrodynamic with Adaptively Embedded Particle-in-Cell model: MHD-AEPIC

Space plasma simulations have seen an increase in the use of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) with embedded Particle-in-Cell (PIC) models. This combined MHD-EPIC algorithm simulates some regions of interest using the kinetic PIC method while employing the MHD description in the rest of the domain. The MHD models are highly efficient and their fluid descriptions are valid for most part of the computational domain, thus making large-scale global simulations feasible. However, in practical applications, the regions where the kinetic effects are critical can be changing, appearing, disappearing and moving in the computational domain. If a static PIC region is used, this requires a much larger PIC domain than actually needed, which can increase the computational cost dramatically. To address the problem, we have developed a new method that is able to dynamically change the region of the computational domain where a PIC model is applied. We have implemented this new MHD with Adaptively Embedded PIC (MHD-AEPIC) algorithm using the BATS-R-US Hall MHD and the Adaptive Mesh Particle Simulator (AMPS) as the semi-implicit PIC models. We describe the algorithm and present a test case of two merging flux ropes to demonstrate its accuracy. The implementation uses dynamic allocation/deallocation of memory and load balancing for efficient parallel execution. We evaluate the performance of MHD-AEPIC compared to MHD-EPIC and the scaling properties of the model to large number of computational cores.

The Surface Distributions of the Production of the Major Volatile Species, H2O, CO2, CO and O2, from the Nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko throughout the Rosetta Mission as Measured by the ROSINA Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer

The Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) suite of instruments operated throughout the over two years of the Rosetta mission operations in the vicinity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It measured gas densities and composition throughout the comets atmosphere, or coma. Here we present two-years worth of measurements of the relative densities of the four major volatile species in the coma of the comet, H2O. CO2, CO and O2, by one of the ROSINA sub-systems called the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer (DFMS). The absolute total gas densities were provided by the Comet Pressure Sensor (COPS), another ROSINA sub-system. DFMS is a very high mass resolution and high sensitivity mass spectrometer able to resolve at a tiny fraction of an atomic mass unit. We have analyzed the combined DFMS and COPS measurements using an inversion scheme based on spherical harmonics that solves for the distribution of potential surface activity of each species as the comet rotates, changing solar illumination, over short intervals and as the comet changes distance from the sun and orientation of its spin axis over long time intervals. We also use the surface boundary conditions derived from the inversion scheme to simulate the whole coma with our fully kinetic Direct Simulation Monte Carlo model and calculate the production rates of the four major species throughout the mission. We compare the derived production rates with revised remote sensing observations by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) as well as with published observations from the Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO). Finally we use the variation of the surface production of the major species to calculate the total mass loss over the mission and, for different estimates of the dust/gas ratio, calculate the variation of surface loss over the nucleus.