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  • Energy-Banded Ions v4 combined

    Rights statement: An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright (year) American Geophysical Union. Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted. Thomsen, M. F., S. V. Badman, C. M. Jackman, X. Jia, M. G. Kivelson, and W. S. Kurth (2017), Energy-banded ions in Saturn's magnetosphere, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 122, doi:10.1002/2017JA024147

    Accepted author manuscript, 10.7 MB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

  • Thomsen_et_al-2017-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research-_Space_Physics

    Rights statement: An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted. Thomsen, M. F., S. V. Badman, C. M. Jackman, X. Jia, M. G. Kivelson, and W. S. Kurth (2017), Energy-banded ions in Saturn's magnetosphere, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 122, doi:10.1002/2017JA024147

    Final published version, 4.68 MB, PDF document

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Energy-banded ions in Saturn's magnetosphere

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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>05/2017
<mark>Journal</mark>Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Issue number5
Volume122
Number of pages22
Pages (from-to)5181-5202
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date11/05/17
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Using data from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer ion mass spectrometer, we report the first observation of energy-banded ions at Saturn. Observed near midnight at relatively high magnetic latitudes, the banded ions are dominantly H+, and they occupy the range of energies typically associated with the thermal pickup distribution in the inner magnetosphere (L < 10), but their energies decline monotonically with increasing radial distance (or time or decreasing latitude). Their pitch angle distribution suggests a source at low (or slightly southern) latitudes. The band energies, including their pitch angle dependence, are consistent with a bounce-resonant interaction between thermal H+ ions and the standing wave structure of a field line resonance. There is additional evidence in the pitch angle dependence of the band energies that the particles in each band may have a common time of flight from their most recent interaction with the wave, which may have been at slightly southern latitudes. Thus, while the particles are basically bounce resonant, their energization may be dominated by their most recent encounter with the standing wave.

Bibliographic note

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2016 American Geophysical Union. Copyright 2017 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted. Thomsen, M. F., S. V. Badman, C. M. Jackman, X. Jia, M. G. Kivelson, and W. S. Kurth (2017), Energy-banded ions in Saturn's magnetosphere, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 122, doi:10.1002/2017JA024147