Near-equatorial pitch angle diffusion of energetic electrons by oblique whistler waves

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/91JA00444· OSTI ID:5313442

Villalon, E ^[1]; Burke, W J ^[2]

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1. Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA (USA)
2. Geophysics Lab., Hanscom AFB, MA (USA)

The pitch angle scattering of trapped, energetic electrons by obliquely propagating whistler waves in the equatorial regions of the plasmasphere is investigated. Storm-injected electrons moving along field lines near the equator interact with electromagnetic waves whose frequencies are Doppler-shifted to some harmonic of the cyclotron frequency. The wave normals are distributed almost parallel to the geomagnetic field. Waves grow from the combined contributions of a large reservoir of energetic electrons that are driven into the loss cone by the highest-harmonic interactions permitted to them. Relativistic, quasi-linear theory is applied to obtain self-consistent equations describing the temporal evolution of waves and particles over time scales which are longer than the particle bounce time and group time delay of the waves. The equilibrium solutions and their stability are studied, considering the reflection of the waves by the ionosphere and the coupling of multiple harmonic resonances. The contributions of nonlocal wave sources are also included in the theory. Numerical computations based on the authors theoretical analysis for regions inside the plasmasphere (L{le}2) and near the plasmapause (L{approximately}4.5) and for the first three harmonic resonances are presented.

• OSTI ID: 5313442
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 96:A6; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
DIFFUSION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
GEOMAGNETIC FIELD
INTERACTIONS
LEPTONS
LOSS CONE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MATHEMATICS
NOISE
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PLASMASPHERE
QUASILINEAR PROBLEMS
RADIATION BELTS
RADIATIONS
RADIO NOISE
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
REFLECTION
SCATTERING
TRAPPED ELECTRONS
WHISTLERS