Particle-in-cell simulations of laser-driven, ion-scale magnetospheres in laboratory plasmas*

Ion-scale magnetospheres have been observed around comets, weakly-magnetized asteroids, and localized regions on the Moon. These mini-magnetospheres provide a unique environment to study kinetic-scale plasma physics, in particular in the collisionless regime. In this work, we present collisionless particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of ion-scale magnetospheres that reproduce recent laboratory experiments performed on the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA. Utilizing high-repetition rate lasers to drive super-Alfv\'{e}nic plasma flows into a dipole magnetic field embedded in a uniform background magnetic field, these experiments examine the evolution of local and global magnetosphere structure for a range of dipole and upstream parameters. PIC simulations are employed to interpret highly-resolved, volumetric experimental datasets, and used to determine the magnetospheric structure, magnetopause location and kinetic-scale structures of the plasma current distribution. Single and multiple ion species simulations are compared to investigate the role of heavy ion debris from the laser target in the interaction.