Laboratory of Theoretical Modeling

Head of laboratory
Dr. Oleg V. Mingalev

Main scientific purpose

Study of plasma processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere by methods of numerical simulations.

Principal tasks

• Numerical simulations of the thin current sheets in the Earth’s magnetotail using macro-particle method.
• Simulation of interaction and evolution of magnetic field-aligned Alfvén coherent structures in the lower magnetosphere and ionosphere.

Mathematical models developed and in use

• A numerical model of the thin current sheet in the Earth’s magnetotail based on the macro-particle method.
• A numerical model of the evolution of Alfvén coherent structures in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system.

Current research of the lab of theoretical modeling includes

• Quasi-equilibrium configurations of the thin current sheet with taking into account electrons with realistic charge-to-mass ratio.
• Computations of spatial spectra of the interacting Alfvén coherent structures, which arise on the magnetic field lines at high latitudes.

Scientific relations

Over the last years the researchers of the lab of theoretical modeling have been conducting joint works with scientists from following organizations:

• Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
• Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz
• Moscow State University, Moscow

Researchers of the lab of theoretical modeling are participants of the program “Plasma processes in the solar system” of the Division of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Future plans

• Improvement of the numerical model of the thin current sheet by applying the method of the fourth order accuracy in the computations of the dynamics of electrons.
• Further development of the numerical model of coherent Alfvén structure evolution by including the coupling of the structures to the conductive ionosphere.

Principal publications

Mingalev O.V., Golovchanskaya I.V., Maltsev Y.P. Simulation of the interchange instability in a magnetospheric substorm site. // Annales Geophysicae. – 2006. V. 24. № 6. P. 1685-1693

Mingalev O.V., Mingalev I. V., Mingalev V. S. Two-dimensional numerical simulation of dynamics of small-scale irregularities in the near-Earth plasma // Cosmic Research. – 2006. – V.44, No.5. – P. 398-408

Borodachev L.V., Mingalev I.V., Mingalev O.V. The numerical approximation of discrete Vlasov-Darwin model based on the optimal reformulation of field equations // Mathematical Modeling. – 2006. – V.18, No.11. – P. 117-125 (in Russian)

Mingalev O.V., Mingalev I.V., Malova Kh.V., and Zelenyi L.M. Numerical Simulations of Plasma Equilibrium in a One-Dimensional Current Sheet with a Nonzero Normal Magnetic Field Component // Plasma Physics Reports, 2007, Vol. 33, No. 11, pp. 942–955

Mingalev O.V., Mingalev I.V., Malova Kh.V., and Zelenyi L.M. Asymmetric Configurations of a Thin Current Sheet with a Constant Normal Magnetic Field Component // Plasma Physics Reports, 2009, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 76–83

Mingalev O.V., Mingalev I. V., Mingalev V. S., Khodachenko M.L. Analytical configurations of a force-free magnetic cylinder in the solar wind // Geomagnetism and Aeronomy. – 2009. – V.49, No.5. – P. 574-581

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