HR: 1340h
AN: P43A-1027    [Abstracts]
TI: Examining the Dynamics of Llow-Energy Electrons in Saturn's Magnetosphere by combining Cassini CAPS-ELS Data with Charged Particle Transport Model.
AU: * Santos-Costa, D
EM: dsantoscosta@swri.edu
AF: Space Science Department, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Tx 78238, United States
AU: Hill, T W
EM: hill@rice.edu
AF: Physics and Astronomy Department, Rice University, Houston, Tx 77251, United States
AU: Johnson, R E
EM: rej@virginia.edu
AF: University of Virginia, Thorton Hall B103, Charlottesville, VA 22904, United States
AU: Rymer, A
EM: Abigail.Rymer@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Paty, P S
EM: cpaty@swri.edu
AF: Space Science Department, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Tx 78238, United States
AU: Coates, A J
EM: ajc@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
AF: Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Surrey, RH5 6NT, United Kingdom
AU: Young, D T
EM: dyoung@swri.edu
AF: Space Science Department, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Tx 78238, United States
AU: Bolton, S J
EM: sbolton@swri.edu
AF: Space Science Department, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Tx 78238, United States
AU: Menietti, J D
EM: jdm@space.physics.uiowa.edu
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
AU: Dougherty, M
EM: m.dougherty@imperial.ac.uk
AF: Blacket Laboratory, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
AB: Our first analysis of electron populations using a diffusion theory model allowed the discussion of plasma production and its distribution in Saturn's inner magnetosphere. Our results in modeling the interactions between low-energy electrons and different components of the Kronian system (satellites, dust, and neutral clouds) showed that 1) part of the cold plasma observed by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer is produced during the impact-ionization of neutrals, and 2) during such a process, the hot component of the electron populations is redistributed along the field lines. Our primary result was then the theoretical demonstration that the impact- ionization process contributes to the `bimodal' energy distributions and `butterfly' pitch-angle distributions. We now present our recent investigation of the sources, sinks and transports of electron plasma populations obtained by combining CAPS-ELS data with our physical particle transport model. We will focus on presenting our results for the period where Cassini was orbiting near the equatorial plane (from late 2005 to early 2006). Plasma data will be used for constraining our modeling, and assisting with the validation of our new simulations. Interaction with neutrals will be studied in the purpose of analyzing the various Saturnian plasma domains. We will also reexamine the diffusive radial transport by discussing magnetospheric processes susceptible to drive inward transport and outward plasma flow.
DE: 2756 Planetary magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033)
DE: 5719 Interactions with particles and fields
DE: 5737 Magnetospheres (2756)
DE: 6270 Pluto and satellites
DE: 6280 Saturnian satellites
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting