Laboratory modelling of solar wind interaction with Lunar Magnetic Anomalies

TL;DR

This study uses laboratory experiments with quadrupole magnetic fields to model how lunar magnetic anomalies interact with solar wind, providing insights consistent with satellite observations.

Contribution

It introduces a laboratory setup that accurately simulates lunar magnetic anomalies and their interaction with solar wind.

Findings

Measured proton flux reflections match satellite data qualitatively.

The experiment confirms the relevance of ion inertia length in mini-magnetosphere modeling.

Laboratory results support the understanding of lunar magnetic anomaly interactions.

Abstract

The paper presents results of laboratory experiment modeling the interaction between Lunar magnetic anomalies and Solar wind. To model the LMA we use quadrupole magnetic field. The main dimentionless parameter of the problem, the ion inertia length relative to the mini-magnetosphere size, well corresponds between experiment and LMA conditions. The main result is measurement of the magnetically reflected proton fluxes, which show qualitative agreement to available satellite data.