Abstract Based on its ionic composition, the magnetosphere of Uranus appears to contain little plasma of solar wind origin. If the plasma source is the atmosphere of the planet, both adiabatic convection with uniform losses and radial diffusion would imply negative radial gradients of the distribution function at fixed first and second adiabatic invariants. Our analysis of LECP data in the outer magnetosphere (beyond 25 RU) reveals different gradients. Evidence is presented that ions may have been non-adiabatically heated during the fourth plasma sheet immersion although this is not unambigously distinguishable from a source at large down tail distance.


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    Title :

    Phase space densities in the Uranian plasma sheet


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1992-01-01


    Size :

    5 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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