Modeling the Young Sun's Solar Wind and its Interaction with Earth's Paleomagnetosphere

TL;DR

This study uses magnetohydrodynamic simulations to explore how the young Sun's solar wind interacted with Earth's paleomagnetosphere, revealing sensitivities to various solar and magnetic parameters and informing planetary atmospheric evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed MHD simulation-based analysis of the young Sun-Earth interaction, highlighting key variables affecting the paleomagnetosphere.

Findings

Young Sun's solar wind conditions vary significantly with coronal density and magnetic field strength.

Mass flux of the young Sun's solar wind was different from the present Sun, affecting Earth's magnetosphere.

Sensitivity of Earth's paleomagnetosphere to solar wind parameters informs planetary atmospheric evolution.

Abstract

We present a focused parameter study of solar wind - magnetosphere interaction for the young Sun and Earth, $~3.5$ Ga ago, that relies on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations for both the solar wind and the magnetosphere. By simulating the quiescent young Sun and its wind we are able to propagate the MHD simulations up to Earth's magnetosphere and obtain a physically realistic solar forcing of it. We assess how sensitive the young solar wind is to changes in the coronal base density, sunspot placement and magnetic field strength, dipole magnetic field strength and the Sun's rotation period. From this analysis we obtain a range of plausible solar wind conditions the paleomagnetosphere may have been subject to. Scaling relationships from the literature suggest that a young Sun would have had a mass flux different from the present Sun. We evaluate how the mass flux changes with the aforementioned factors and determine the importance of this and several other key solar and magnetospheric variables with respect to their impact on the paleomagnetosphere. We vary the solar wind speed, density, interplanetary magnetic field strength and orientation as well as Earth's dipole magnetic field strength and tilt in a number of steady-state scenarios that are representative of young Sun-Earth interaction. This study is done as a first step of a more comprehensive effort towards understanding the implications of Sun-Earth interaction for planetary atmospheric evolution.