Hybrid simulation of the interactions between Ganymede's magnetosphere and the jovian plasma

International audienceGanymede is the only magnetized moon in the solar system embedded in its large parent's planet magnetosphere. Its internal magnetic field interacts strongly with the Jovian magnetospheric plasma and makes unique this interaction. Thermal magnetospheric ions co-rotate at about 180km/s and are mainly composed of oxygen ions and protons. Few MHD models succeeded in describing accurately the global shape of the magnetosphere and reproduce most of the signatures observed by Galileo but they are unable to take in consideration high gyroradius effects or multiple ions dynamic. Therefore we developed a 3D parallel multi-species hybrid model based on a CAM-CL algorithm which has been largely used for other magnetized or unmagnetized body such as Mars, Titan or Mercury