JERICHO: a Kinetic-Ion, Fluid-Electron Hybrid Plasma Model for the Outer Planets
Date:
JERICHO is a full hybrid kinetic-ion, fluid-electron plasma model in 2.5-dimensions developed for the analysis of bulk transport in the Jovian magnetosphere. Plasma in the Jovian system is removed from Io’s torus mainly via ejection as energetic neutrals and by bulk transport into sink regions in the outer magnetosphere. The physical process generally considered to be responsible for bulk transport is the centrifugal-interchange instability, analogous to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, but with centrifugal force replacing gravity. This mechanism allows magnetic flux tubes containing hot, tenuous plasma to exchange places with tubes containing cool, dense plasma, moving material from the inner to outer magnetosphere whilst returning magnetic flux to the inner magnetosphere. The technique of hybrid modelling allows for probing of plasma motions from the scale of planetary-radii down to the ion-inertial length scale, considering constituent ion species kinetically as charged particles and forming the electrons into a single magnetised fluid continuum. This allows for insights into particle motions on spatial scales below the size of the magnetic flux tubes. Results from this model will allow for the examination of bulk transport on spatial scales not currently accessible with state-of-the-art models, improving understanding of mechanisms responsible for moving constituent ion species radially outwards from the inner to outer magnetosphere. In this presentation we will examine the structure of the model logic and numerics before analysing the latest results from the model.