Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm14a..01r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM14A-01
Physics
[2704] Magnetospheric Physics / Auroral Phenomena, [2732] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings, [2740] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, [2760] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Convection
Scientific paper
Saturn is an excellent laboratory for the study of electron dynamics, displaying multiple electron components and a complex array of heating mechanisms and ionisation sources. Near Enceladus electrons are even bound to gas and dust travelling at Keplerian speed, also, at Enceladus and Titan, the neutral density is so high that electrons attach to neutral particles so that negative ion chemistry becomes important. In general, cold (<100 eV) electrons inside L ~ 11 have energy and phase space density profiles consistent with a local source, probably due to in situ ionisation of the neutral cloud. These cold electrons are heated to the observed energies (through Coulomb collisions and thermal equilibration with ions and hot electrons) and transport slowly outward. Like Jupiter, magnetic flux lost through cold plasma outflow is balanced by the injection of hot outer magnetospheric plasma inward. This supplies a hot (> 100 eV) electron component that transports inward, quite rapidly, in small injection channels, from about 11 Rs. Several mysteries, however, remain, for example: Why are the middle magnetospheric electrons so hot? Why are injection events seen mostly in the radial range 5 - 10 Saturn radii? What is the connection between enormous energetic particle injections, that apparently emerge, or energise on the nightside of the planet, with smaller injections that are apparently randomly distributed in longitude? Here we review the current state of knowledge on this important aspect of Saturn plasma dynamics in the context of the many studies on this topic to date.
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