SPLITTING OF DRIFT SHELLS BY THE MAGNETOSPHERIC ELECTRIC FIELD.

Abstract

The dawn-to-dusk magnetospheric electric field E breaks the pitch-angle degeneracy of particle drift shells in a magnetic-dipole field. For particles of sufficiently large kinetic energy T, the expression for the associated radial-diffusion coefficient is given. The coefficient of pitch-angle diffusion is roughly half the reciprocal lifetime. In the absence of pitch-angle scattering, the electric splitting of drift shells constitutes an important adiabatic phenomenon. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 15, 1970
Accession Number
AD0712044

Entities

People

  • Juan G. Roederer
  • Michael Schulz

Organizations

  • The Aerospace Corporation

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coefficients
  • Cooperation
  • Diffusion
  • Diffusion Coefficient
  • Dipoles
  • Electric Fields
  • Energy
  • Kinetic Energy
  • Magnetic Dipoles
  • Particles
  • Scattering
  • Splitting

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.