Drift-Shell Splitting at Arbitrary Pitch Noise,

Abstract

Analytical expressions are developed to approximate the bounce period and second invariant as functions of particle energy, equatorial pitch angle, and parameters of the guiding field line. The equatorial pitch angle is not restricted to values near pi/2, as in the harmonic-oscillator approximation, but terms indicating deviation of the magnetic field from that of a dipole are included to first order only. There follow approximate analytical expressions for tracing drift shells in the magnetosphere. Two important cases are considered separately: (a) shell splitting caused by dawn-dusk asymmetry of the magnetosphere's electrostatic potential, superimposed on a dipolar magnetic field, and (b) shell splitting caused by day-night asymmetry of the earth's magnetic field in the absence of electric fields. In each case an expression is derived for the relationship between pitch-angle diffusion and radial diffusion in the presence of drift-shell splitting at arbitrary equatorial pitch angle. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 15, 1971
Accession Number
AD0733717

Entities

People

  • Michael Schulz

Organizations

  • The Aerospace Corporation

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymmetry
  • Diffusion
  • Electric Fields
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Magnetosphere
  • Oscillators
  • Particles
  • Splitting

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.