Debris transport in Hybrid-VPIC simulations of Starfish Prime

The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test of 1962 produced unexpected results, including the transfer of debris to higher magnetic latitudes than expected, seeding long-lived artificial radiation belts that took out roughly 1/3 of the satellites in orbit at the time, effectively ending the test series. Here, we aim to model the interaction of Starfish Prime with its environment using Hybrid-VPIC [1], a particle-in-cell ion and fluid electron 3D electromagnetic code with world-class performance using realistic background ion and magnetic field profiles. We track the transport of weapon debris and show a cross-field drift to higher altitudes where beta decay can seed artificial radiation belts.

[1] Le, et al. Physics of plasmas 30.6 (2023).