Uranus remains one of the most unexplored planets in our solar system, featuring a distinctive magnetic field structure first observed by NASA's Voyager 2 mission almost 40 years ago. Uranus is particularly notable for its pronounced magnetic field asymmetry, a characteristic unique to the icy giants. Here we show that, in the region where Voyager 2 did not pass (), the asymmetric magnetic field can distort the trajectories of high energy protons within Uranus' radiation belts such that the particles hit the planet when they otherwise would not have (in a traditional dipole field). This implies that radiation belt protons which start with pitch angles well outside their respective loss cones can drift into a region where the loss cone is much bigger and then precipitate. This occurs preferentially in the magnetic north pole due to its significantly weaker surface field strength.

中文翻译：

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由于天王星的不对称磁场而增强的高能质子沉淀


天王星仍然是我们太阳系中最未被探索的行星之一，具有独特的磁场结构，大约40年前，美国宇航局的旅行者2号任务首次观察到了这一点。天王星以其明显的磁场不对称性而特别引人注目，这是冰冷巨星独有的特征。在这里，我们表明，在旅行者 2 号没有经过的区域 （ ），不对称的磁场可以扭曲天王星辐射带内高能质子的轨迹，使粒子在原本不会撞击行星时（在传统的偶极子场中）撞击地球。这意味着，从远超出各自损耗锥的俯仰角开始的辐射带质子可以漂移到损耗锥大得多的区域，然后沉淀。这优先发生在磁北极，因为它的表面场强度明显较弱。