A two-dimensional simulation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with magnetic shear

Abstract

The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is a mechanism for transport of mass and momentum from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. Using a two-dimensional compressional MHD simulation, we explore the mass and momentum transport at the boundary for different magnetic field configurations corresponding to the flank low-latitude boundary layer. We used data taken from Phan and Paschmann [1996] and Paschmann et al. [1993] to better approximate the density and magnetic field structure of the boundary layer for low- and high-shear magnetic fields. We found that mass transport was the largest for the low-shear magnetic field configuration where the magnetic field in the magnetosheath was almost parallel to the magnetospheric magnetic field. The largest momentum transport occurred for cases where the magnetic field in the magnetosheath was parallel or antiparallel to the magnetospheric magnetic field. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union.