Shell splitting due to electric fields.

Abstract

Drift shells of trapped particles starting from a single field line in the earth's magnetic field may become separated owing to an electric field. By using the formalism of the shell-splitting function, this separation is calculated for an arbitrary curl-free time-independent electric field satisfying E.B = 0, with no limitation on the particle's longitudinal excursion. The effect of nondipole field components is also taken into account to the lowest order.