Electron sources in Saturn's magnetosphere

Abstract

We investigate the sources of two different electron components in Saturn's inner magnetosphere (5 < L < 12 Rs) by performing phase space density (f(v)) analyses of electron measurements made by the Cassini CAPS instrument (1 eV to 28 keV). Because pitch angle distributions indicate that the traditional single particle invariants of gyration and bounce are not appropriate, we use a formulation of the isotropic invariant derived by Wolf (1983) and Schulz (1998) and show that it is similar in functional form to the first adiabatic invariant. Our f(v) analyses confirm that the cooler electrons (<100 eV) have a source in the inner magnetosphere and are likely products of neutral ionization processes in Saturn's neutral cloud. The mystery is how the electrons are heated to energies comparable to the proton thermal energy (which is approximately equal to the proton pickup energy), a process that reveals itself as a source of electrons at given invariant values in our f(v) analyses. We show that Coulomb collisions provide a viable mechanism to achieve the near equipartition of ion and electron energies in the time available before particles are lost from the region. We find that the source of the hotter electron component (>100 eV) is Saturn's middle or outer magnetosphere, perhaps transported to the inner magnetosphere by radial diffusion regulated by interchange‐like injections. Hot electrons undergo heavy losses inside L ∼ 6 and the distance to which the hot electron component penetrates into the neutral cloud is energy‐dependent, with the coolest fraction of the hot plasma penetrating to the lowest L‐shells. This can arise through energy‐dependent radial transport during the interchange process and/or loss through the planetary loss cone.