Energetic particles of the outer regions of planetary magnetospheres

Abstract

High energy particles, with energies above those attainable by adiabatic or steady-state electric field acceleration, have been observed in and around the outer regions of planetary magnetospheres. Acceleration by large amplitude sporadic cross-tail electric fields over an order of magnitude greater than steady-state convection fields is proposed as a source of these particles. It is suggested that such explosive electric fields will occur intermittently in the vicinity of the tail neutral line in the expansive phase of substorms. Laboratory and satellite evidence are used to estimate this electric potential for substorms at earth; values of 500 kilovolts to 2 megavolts are calculated, in agreement with particle observations. It is further suggested that these particles, which have been accelerated in the night side magnetosphere, drift to the dayside on closed field lines, and under certain interplanetary conditions can escape to regions upstream of the bow shock