Fundamental Technologies Galileo Spacecraft Pages

Investigation of the Magnetosphere of Ganymede with Galileo's Energetic Particle Detector
Ph.D. dissertation by Shawn M. Stone, University of Kansas, 1999.

Chapter 2. Single Particle Theory

A plasma is composed of charged particles that are reacting to the electromagnetic field environment present in their region of space as well as to each other. Single particle motion in a plasma is strongly distorted by the presence of all the other particles. However, due to Debye screening, the particles move approximately freely in a dilute collisionless and hot plasma for distances larger than a Debye length [Treumann and Baumjohann, 1997]. With this assumption, it is possible to learn much about the dynamics of plasmas in planetary magnetic fields from the study of single particle motion and their physical properties. This chapter sets out the theoretical basis for the analysis and modeling that will be done in Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7.

• 2.1 Maxwell's Equations and the Lorentz Force
• 2.2 The Guiding Center Equation of Motion
• 2.3 Adiabatic Invariants
• 2.4 Pitch Angle Diffusion
• 2.5 Electric Fields

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Updated 9/4/01, T. Hunt-Ward
tizby@ftecs.com