For more than two decades numerical models of the Earth's magnetosphere have been used successfully to study magnetospheric dynamic features such as the excitation of ULF pulsations and the mechanism of ®eld line resonance. However, numerical formulations simplify important properties of the real system. For instance the Alfve n continuum becomes discrete because of a ®nite grid size. This dis...

[1] The time-variable structure of Ganymede’s magnetosphere is studied by means of resistive MHD simulations. Using the magnetometer measurements of the Galileo spacecraft in the first few Ganymede flybys as examples, we find that the plasma flow pattern inside the Ganymedian magnetosphere could be subject to significant changes. Furthermore, the boundary of the polar cap dividing the open magn...

Aberration and retardation of the radiation within a pulsar’s magnetosphere enable a single corotating absorbing region in the outer magnetosphere to give rise to a ‘double notch’ in the pulsar’s observed radio profile. This effect requires that a pulsar has not only absorbing but also emitting regions at heights which are a significant proportion of the light cylinder radius. The known presenc...

We discuss a number of topics relevant to disk-magnetosphere interaction and how numerical simulations illuminate them. The topics include: (1) disk-magnetosphere interaction and the problem of disk-locking; (2) the wind problem; (3) structure of the magnetospheric flow, hot spots at the star’s surface, and the inner disk region; (4) modeling of spectra from 3D funnel streams; (5) accretion to ...

We study the propagation of polarization light through the magnetosphere of neutron stars. At intermediate frequencies (the optical through the infrared), both the birefringence induced by the plasma and by quantumelectrodynamics influence the observation polarization of radiation from the surface of the neutron star. Because these two processes compete in this regime, we find that polarization...

A numerical investigation is performed of the accretion of slowly rotating matter onto a stellar magnetosphere. The shape of the magnetosphere is represented by an impermeable, contracted dipole magnetic field surface with polar holes. Depending on the governing parameters, both steady-state solutions with a system of discontinuities and unsteady flows with expanding shock waves can be obtained...

Before the Pioneer 10 and 11 Jupiter flybys, it was suggested that the Jovian radiation belts are populated by strong radial inward diffusion [see, e.g., Birmingham et al., 1974; Coroniti, 1974; Mead, 1972] violating the third adiabatic invariant. Birmingham et al. [1974] and Coroniti [1974] showed that the general features of the Jovian decimetric radiation (DIM) can be explained in terms of a...

Cassini's successful orbit insertion has provided the first examination of Saturn's magnetosphere in 23 years, revealing a dynamic plasma and magnetic environment on short and long time scales. There has been no noticeable change in the internal magnetic field, either in its strength or its near-alignment with the rotation axis. However, the external magnetic field is different compared with pa...

[1] The induced magnetosphere at Venus consists of regions near the planet and its wake for which the magnetic pressure dominates all other pressure contributions. Initial Venus Express measurements indicate a well-defined outer boundary, the magnetopause, of the induced magnetosphere. This magnetopause acts as an obstacle to deflect the solar wind. Across this boundary, the magnetic field exhi...

Preliminary observations of dayside high latitude ionospheric plasma convection with the Sondrestrom incoherent-scatter adar indicate that plasma can be observed to enter the polar cap region through rotational reversals at most local times between dawn and dusk and not just in a narrow region around noon. Assuming that rotational reversals are signatures of a solar wind-magnetosphere interacti...