The Interaction of the Terrestrial Magnetic Field with the Solar Corpuscular Radiation

In this investigation the terrestrial magnetic dipole field is assumed to exist in an intense stream of protons and electrons emanating from the sun which behaves as a diamagnetic medium terminating the earth's magnetic field at about 7 earth radii on the daylit side and up to perhaps 100 earth radii on the night side of the earth. By detailed examination of particle trajectories the interaction between plasma and magnetic field is shown to occur within a negligibly thin current sheath enveloping the earth. Numerical solutions of the differential equation for the sheath surface reveals an approximately spherical surface on the daylit side giving rise to a more complicated expanding surface on the night side, including a prominent bump of reversed current sheath near the magnetic poles.