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Detailed Reference Information |
Cheng, A.F., Paonessa, M.T., Maclennan, C.G., Lanzerotti, L.J. and Armstrong, T.P. (1984). Longitudinal asymmetry in the Io plasma Torus. Journal of Geophysical Research 89: doi: 10.1029/JA089iA05p03005. issn: 0148-0227. |
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A clear inbound-outbound asymmetry is found in Voyager 1 low-energy charged particle (LECP) phase space densities near 6 RJ. The asymmetry is of the same sign and comparable magnitude for electrons and ions at several different energies. Ion phase space density profiles at three values of the first invariant are uniformly displaced to larger radius by ~0.25 RJ during the inbound pass. Inbound-outbound asymmetries which are they similar for electrons and ions at many different energies can be accounted for naturally by a convection electric field in the plasma torus. If the asymmetry is attributed to a convection field fixed in local time, then the field has a component of ~4 v V/m pointing toward 0120 LT, roughly orthogonal to the dawn-dusk electric field proposed to account for local time asymmetry in the plasma torus. On the other hand, the asymmetry can be attributed to a corotating convection field, such that plasma outflow occurs within 170¿≤&lgr;III≤300¿ at a velocity of ~2¿10-6 RJ s-1 near L=6. In this case the LECP observations would be consistent with the magnetic anomaly model. If asymmetric particle losses are responsible for the effect, then the ion loss rate was ~25% greater during the inbound pass. |
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American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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