Energetic particle phase space densities at Saturn: Cassini observations and interpretations

Details Energetic particle phase space densities at Saturn: Cassini observations and interpretations Energetic particle phase space densities at Saturn: Cassini observations and interpretations

May 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011jgra..11605222k&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 116, Issue A5, CiteID A05222

Physics

2

Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosphere: Inner, Magnetospheric Physics: Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033), Magnetospheric Physics: Energetic Particles: Trapped, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics

Scientific paper

Saturn's magnetosphere has been studied extensively by the Cassini spacecraft during the last 6 years. We present mission-averaged energetic proton and electron measurements obtained by the MIMI/LEMMS instrument onboard Cassini in an energy range from several 10 keV to several 10 MeV separated by equatorial pitch angle. We discuss the resulting radial profiles and energy spectra. The measured intensities are converted to phase space densities. The distribution of energetic particles is governed by a large variety of processes. For instance, moons absorb energetic particles, creating macrosignatures or microsignatures. We have found that the moon Rhea is partly responsible for a change in gradient of electron phase space densities. We show that, in contrast to larger distances, the particle distribution for L < 8 is not driven by radial diffusion alone. There, the particle profiles are significantly modified due to Saturn's Neutral Torus, plasma environment, E ring, injection events, and cosmic ray albedo neutron decay. Large parts of our analysis are focused near L = 7. There, protons are lost within the Neutral Torus and not the E ring. For electrons, we find that these two losses are of comparable rate but have discovered that neither process is the dominant driver of loss. We point out that intensity measured by a energy channel, such as in a particle instrument, can actually increase in the region of ring and torus instead of decrease. The importance of injection events is shown to be at least of similar importance as radial diffusion.

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