Abstract
The interaction is studied of transverse waves (propagating parallel to a uniform magnetic field) with the particles described by a double-humped velocity-space distribution function that is loss-cone limited. Such a distribution function can represent the magnetospheric plasma whose energetic secondary hump is observed to be roughly isotropic except for the loss cone. A Nyquist analysis of the dispersion relation shows initially that any plasma that is isotropic except for the loss cone can be unstable to transverse waves. Growth (damping) rates are then obtained in terms of the mirror ratio R and the details of the particle distribution function for each species. These results are then specialized for the case of a double-humped isotropic loss-cone velocity distribution. By treating the thermal component as effectively cold, it is found that the relatively small energetic component of the secondary hump can introduce, if sufficiently monoenergetic, additional instability not otherwise present for monotonic distributions. The actual particle distribution observed within the magnetosphere is then considered, and the results of numerical computations of damping rates are presented.
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