Space Research: Particles and their Fields A Brief Introduction for Mathematicians

Abstract

The use of vectors in describing the motion of charged particles is illustrated by applying the results of an elementary analysis to the motions of charged particles in Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere. In the ionosphere electric fields give rise to ‘E x B’ drifts which cause bulk motion of the ionization away from the equator near midday. This is evident in world contours of the isolines of electron density which exhibit an equatorial trough near noon and in the early afternoon. In the magnetosphere, drifts caused by particle pressures, together with inhomogeneity and curvature drifts, cause the charged particles there to form a geomagnetic ring current whose effects have been observed by satellite. This ring current may affect the topology of the magnetosphere.