Particle precipitation and radiation belt in laboratory experiments

Abstract

Precipitation of particles and how they intrude into the magnetosphere have been investigated in a laboratory experiment. An artificial magnetosphere with a geomagnetic tail has been generated as a result of plasma flow interaction with the field of a magnetic dipole. Two precipitation zones at different latitudes are distinctly observed on the dayside. High-latitude precipitation is associated with plasma intrusion into a polar gap. A low-latitude zone embraces the terrella. Its origin is associated with a radiation belt. Radiation belt filling with particles takes place on the nightside as a result of the convection of force lines into the magnetosphere. It is shown that an equatorial gap originating at the dayside transforms into the plasma sheet in the magnetosphere tail.