An experiment to measure collisionless radial transport of energetic electrons confined by a dipole magnetic field

摘要

A new laboratory terrella has been constructed in order to study collisionless radial diffusion of particles trapped within a dipole magnetic field. Columbia's collisionless terrella experiment (CTX) aims to reproduce the process of wave-induced radial transport and does not try to simulate magnetospheric structure. The first experiment planned for CTX is the direct measurement of stochastic radial diffusion induced from wave-particle drift resonances. The motivation for the CTX experiment is described, and the procedures to be used to measure the intensity and spectrum of fluctuations generating chaos, the rate of radial transport, and the evolution of the density and pressure profiles are illustrated. Because of the success of similar experiments conducted earlier in a long thin magnetic mirror, these dipole experiments can be performed with a high degree of confidence. An example from these earlier experiments is presented.