Global Fully Kinetic Model of Magnetic Reconnection in a Magnetosphere

Magnetic reconnection is thought to play a key role in controlling dynamics of planetary magnetospheres. In the collisionless plasma it is a complex multi-scale process, driven by macroscopic dynamics, but crucially dependent upon microscopic physics on the electron kinetic scales. Recent advances in high-performance computing have enabled us to conduct meaningful simulations that incorporate in a self-consistent manner a large subset of the relevant physics. Here we present and discuss results of 2D simulations that describe reconnection in a self-consistent global model. The system is driven by interaction of the solar wind with a magnetized body. We discuss reconnection at the magnetopuase with special attention paid to spatial location of the dominant reconnection site, time variability of the reconnection rate, and single vs multiple X-line scenarios.