Work

A fresh look into the interaction of exoplanets magnetosphere with stellar winds using MHD simulations

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Numerous numerical studies have been carried out in recent years that simulate different aspects of exoplanets’ magnetosphere and stellar winds. These studies have focused primarily on hot Jupiters with sun-like stars. This study addresses the challenges inherent in utilizing existing MHD codes to model hot Jupiter-star systems. Due to the scaling of the system and the assumption of a uniformly flowing stellar wind at the outer boundary of the simulation, MHD codes necessitate a minimum distance of greater than 0.4 au for a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a sun-like star to avoid substantial violations of the code’s assumptions. Additionally, employing the GAMERA (Grid Agnostic MHD for Extended Research Applications) MHD code, we simulate star-planet interactions considering various stellar types (Sun-like and M Dwarf stars) with both Jupiter-like and rocky planets positioned at varying orbital distances. Furthermore, we explore the impact of tidal locking on the total power within the magnetosphere-ionosphere systems.

Source: Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

DOI: 10.3389/fspas.2024.1398379

Authors: Fatemeh Bagheri, Ramon Lopez, Kevin Pham

Institutions: Goddard Space Flight Center, The University of Texas at Arlington, NSF NCAR High Altitude Observatory

Language: English

Topic: Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,125

Funder: National Science Foundation