Persistent particle anisotropies and magnetospheric models

Abstract

The influence of an interplanetary particle anisotropy on the asymmetry of solar particle entry into the magnetotail is analysed in the diffusion as well as in the reconnection model. By time dependent diffusion calculations with an asymmetric boundary condition in a cylindrical tail lobe it can be shown that a north-south interplanetary anisotropy leads in the open as well as in the closed magnetosphere to essentially the same polar cap structures when observed with a dawn-dusk polar orbiting satellite. However, depending on the satellite orbit, an east-west interplanetary anisotropy can serve to distinguish between rival magnetospheric models. Comparison of our diffusion calculations with polar cap measurements during an east-west interplanetary anisotropy, as presented in Morfill and Scholer (1972), show a large discrepancy, whereas an open tail model fits these observations best.