HR: 14:25h
AN: P53D-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Energy Spectra and Composition of Particle Injections in Saturn's Magnetosphere
AU: * Hamilton, D
EM: dch@umd.edu
AF: University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD 20742, United States
AU: DiFabio, R
EM: rdifabio@umd.edu
AF: University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD 20742, United States
AU: Rymer, A
EM: Abigail.Rymer@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laruel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Krimigis, S
EM: tom.krimigis@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laruel, MD 20723, United States
AU: Mitchell, D
EM: don.mitchell@jhuapl.edu
AF: Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laruel, MD 20723, United States
AB: We use measurements from the Charge-Energy-Mass Spectrometer (CHEMS) to determine the energy spectra and composition of the frequent particle injections observed in Saturn's magnetosphere. CHEMS, one of three sensors comprising the MIMI investigation on Cassini, determines the mass and charge state of ions in the energy per charge range 3-220 keV/e. Frequent impulsive particle injections appear to replenish a ring current that persists outside of about L=7. The ring current spectra, averaged over L=7-11, are typically very good power laws from 3 keV up to 60-100 keV with spectral indices in the range -2.0 to -2.5. The major ion species (protons, singly charged oxygen, and molecular hydrogen) usually have very similar spectral slopes. In this talk we examine the ion spectra in numerous impulsive injections, look for differences among species, and compare with spectra of the persistent ring current in order to investigate acceleration and transport processes in Saturn's magnetosphere.
DE: 2778 Ring current
DE: 5737 Magnetospheres (2756)
DE: 6275 Saturn
DE: 7845 Particle acceleration
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting