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Abstract
We report on the observed trapping of 3 SiO2 dust rings around a dipole magnet as a consequence of hot plasma convection. We show that Birkeland's 1910 terrella experiments, repeated in an 18" bell jar, produce a DC-glow discharge plasma in a flattened annulus around the central magnet. This highly anisotropic, hot plasma produces a quadrupolar space charge that is estimated to be tens of nF of capacitance in our system. The space charge, in turn, produces an electrostatic trap which suspends a dusty plasma against the force of gravity. We generalize that any magnetosphere when injected with hot plasma will develop a quadrupolar electrostatic trap.
We present a simple kinetic theory for this effect and propose that quadrupolar traps may be operating at Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. Such a trap could theoretically account for the relative thinness of Saturn's dust rings, as well as the energy driver of galactic jets. We will present data on the meridional structure of this space charge as measured in the NASA/MSFC/NSSTC Spinning Terrella Lab as well as our progress in simulations.