Stability of the Adiabatic Motion of Charged Particles in the Earth's Field

Abstract

The motion of charged particles in a magnetic field such that of the earth or that of a magnetic mirror machine is discussed. It is shown that during the motion and drift of a relativistic particle, not only the magnetic moment, but also a longitudinal invariant and an additional flux invariant are adiabatically conserved. These conservation laws lead to retention of the particles in the field. The derivation of the adiabatic invariants leads to a set of equations of motion which describe the average drift of the particles from one force line to the other, and which also describe the changes that occur in the energies and periods associated with the motion. In the absence of scattering, loss of particles from the magnetic field will be due to the violation of the adiabatic laws.