Planetary heavy ions in the magnetotail of Mars: Results of the TAUS and MAGMA experiments aboard Phobos

Both kinetic and hydrodynamic properties of specific ‘mushroom-cap’ distributions of heavy ions in the plasma sheet of the Martian magnetotail are analyzed to identify possible processes of planetary ion acceleration. A number of correlations of different plasma sheet and solar wind parameters are studied to find signatures of ion acceleration by magnetic field line shear stress, field aligned and cross tail electric field, as well as by direct interaction with the magnetosheath plasma in the ‘pole’ regions.