Numerical Simulations of Collision Free Space Plasma
A well-known radio phenomenon in the Very High Frequency (VHF) radio band is that of a series of chirp sounds, which result from interactions between radio waves and electrons in space trapped in the Earth's magnetic field.
If these were replayed in the audio spectrum, they would sound like bird song- hence they are often referred to as ‘dawn chorus’
We have developed a novel and highly efficient method for numerical modelling of space plasma termed 'Vlasov hybrid simulation'. This method has been shown to be superior to classical particle-in-cell techniques: yielding higher accuracy for considerably less computational effort.
The results from our numerical model compare well with observations from a US/ Japanese satellite showing that we have been able to explain the origins of the ‘dawn chorus.’
VLF band observations of chorus from the Geotail satellite
Numerical simulation of using particle data as observed by the satellite