The secondary radiation under Saturn's A-B-C rings produced by cosmic ray interactions

On the basis of a study of spacecraft data of Saturn, Chenette et al. (1980) concluded that highly relativistic galactic cosmic ray nuclei with magnetic rigidities greater than the Stoermer rigidity cutoff in the plane of Saturn's A-B-C rings along the Pioneer 11 trajectory produced a secondary population of charged particles. The existence of this secondary particle population was confirmed by Randall (1982). Cooper and Simpson (1980) further developed this concept of secondary production of nucleons by cosmic ray nuclei to estimate the yield of secondary neutrons which might, through decay, populate the radiation belt with low-energy electrons and protons. Cooper (1983) reported quantitative Monte Carlo calculations of neutron production in the rings and their decay in the magnetosphere. The present investigation is concerned with a confirmation of the earlier work, and an extension of the studies on the basis of improved spectra for the proton and electron components.