"Radiation Belt" and Trapped Cosmic-Ray Albedo

Abstract

The existence of a belt of unidentified ionizing radiation observed by the Explorer satellites has led to speculations concerning the nature and source of this radiation. The suggestion that the radiation is related to auroral particles accelerated by hydromagnetic waves is discusssd. Some earlier work on cosmic-ray albedo trapped in the geomagnetic field is applied with the possibility of accounting for the satellite observations. (W.D.M.)