VAN ALLEN BELT PLASMA PHYSICS.
Abstract
Recent theoretical developments in understanding the plasma turbulence in the Van Allen belts are reviewed. More complex geophysical turbulence phenomena, such as the auroral zone, are not explicitly treated, since their theoretical description is still incomplete. In particular, it now appears likely that instability, and the resulting quasi-linear pitch angle scattering, in the so-called whistler and ion cyclotron modes, limits the fluxes of energetic electrons and ions, respectively, that can be stably trapped in the Van Allen belts, where the Earth's magnetic lines have a dipole mirror configuration. Factors which affect the stability of such waves propagating obliquely to the local magnetic field direction, the velocity space diffusion resulting from their nonlinear growth, and observations relating to the Van Allen belt turbulence are discussed semi-quantitatively.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0804319
Entities
People
- C. F. Kennel
- H. E. Petschek