Absolute Flux Comparison of Magnetospheric Particles

Abstract

Problem statement: The calculation of magnetospheric particle flux by dividing the particle count rate by the instrument geometric factor does not take into account the anisotropic pitch angle distribution function. A comparison of particle fluxes measured by different instruments fail to lead to the right comparison. To circumvent the omission of anisotropy of the pitch angle distribution and to make the correct comparison of particle fluxes, the instrument response function to different pitch angles within the sampling range of the instrument has been incorporated into the count rates over a certain readout time. Conclusion/Recommendations: A quantity in absolute comparison of magnetospheric particle flux has been found. The newly defined quantity of different observations does lead to the correct comparison for studying temporal variations. Investigators interested to study temporal features of magnetospheric particles over epochs may find the response functions for different instruments flown at different epochs useful for their study.