Ion acceleration at dipolarization fronts associated with the interchange instability in Earth’s magnetotail

It has been confirmed that dipolarization fronts (DFs) are the result of the interchange instability in the Earth’s magnetotail. In this paper, we use a Hall MHD model to simulate the evolution of the interchange instability that produces DFs along the leading edge. A test particle simulation is performed to study the physical phenomenon of ion acceleration at the DF. The numerical simulation indicates that almost all particles move earthward and dawnward and then drift to the tail. The DF-reflected ion population at the duskside appears earlier as a consequence of the asymmetric Hall electric field. Ions that are distributed in a dawn-dusk asymmetric semicircle behind the DF tend to be accelerated to higher energies (>13.5 keV). These high-energy particles eventually concentrate in the dawnside. Ions experience effective acceleration by the dawnward electric field, while they drift through the dawn flank at the front, toward the tail.