First page Back Continue Last page Graphics
Conclusions
Dust can be trapped in an electrostatic field produced by warm plasma trapped around an inhomogeneous dipole field. This has been demonstrated in the laboratory, and observed in space.
Cusp Diamagnetic Cavities are stable in the quadrupole cusp of all magnetospheres due to Chapman Ferraro currents. These CDC are filled with waves and make excellent accelerators. We observe these CDC at Earth simultaneous with energized particles.
Scalings based on a CDC at Earth produce a reasonable estimate of Jupiter’s radiation belt energy, predict that Mars will not have a radiation belt, and lead to predictions for the other planets.
Scaling this CDC warm plasma to Saturn’s E-ring, we predict a 1-2 kV electrostatic potential well for trapping charged dust.
This would account for the thinness of Saturn’s E-ring, a topic not addressed by current models.