Plasmaspheric flux tube filling by way of kinetic processes

摘要

The Final Report on plasmaspheric flux tube filling via kinetic processes is presented. The original proposal outlined the initial steps of a project to study the evolution of the kinetic distribution function of plasmaspheric ions f(sub i) driven by Coulomb collisions and other physical processes following a depletion event. The ultimate goal is to develop a theoretical framework and computational procedure based on a bounced-averaged Fokker-Planck equation to allow this problem to be studied, first, in a prototype case with H() and O() ions emanating from the topside ionosphere and undergoing Coulomb collisions (including self-collisions), with an initial exospheric distribution for the protons, and later, to incorporate additional physical processes (e.g., parameterized wave-particle interactions).