Title: Low-energy (< 200 eV) electron acceleration by ULF waves in the plasmaspheric boundary layer: Van Allen Probes observation

Abstract

Here, we report observational evidence of cold plamsmaspheric electron (< 200 eV) acceleration by ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves in the plasmaspheric boundary layer on 10 September 2015. Strongly enhanced cold electron fluxes in the energy spectrogram were observed along with second harmonic mode waves with a period of about 1 minute which lasted several hours during two consecutive Van Allen Probe B orbits. Cold electron (<200 eV) and energetic proton (10-20 keV) bi-directional pitch angle signatures observed during the event are suggestive of the drift-bounce resonance mechanism. The correlation between enhanced energy fluxes and ULF waves leads to the conclusions that plasmaspheric dynamics is strongly affected by ULF waves. Van Allen Probe A and B, GOES 13, GOES 15 and MMS 1 observations suggest ULF waves in the event were strongest on the dusk-side magnetosphere. Measurements from MMS 1 contain no evidence of an external wave source during the period when ULF waves and injected energetic protons with a bump-on-tail distribution were detected by Van Allen Probe B. This suggests that the observed ULF waves were probably excited by a localized drift-bounce resonant instability, with the free energy supplied by substorm-injected energetic protons. The observations by Van Allen Probe B suggestmore » that energy transfer between particle species in different energy ranges can take place through the action of ULF waves, demonstrating the important role of these waves in the dynamical processes of the inner magnetosphere.« less

Authors:

Ren, Jie  ^[1];

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Zong, Q. G.  ^[2];

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Miyoshi, Y.  ^[3];

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Zhou, X. Z.  ^[2];

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Wang, Y. F. ^[2]; Rankin, R.  ^[4];

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Yue, C.  ^[5];

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Spence, H. E.  ^[6];

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Funsten, Herbert O.  ^[7];

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Wygant, J. R.  ^[8];

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Kletzing, C. A.  ^[9]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Peking Univ., Beijing (China); Nagoya Univ., Nagoya (Japan)
2. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
3. Nagoya Univ., Nagoya (Japan)
4. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (Canada)
5. UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (United State); Univ. Corp. for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
6. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
7. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
8. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
9. Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)

Publication Date:

2017-08-30

Research Org.:

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)

OSTI Identifier:

1394991

Report Number(s):

LA-UR-17-27492
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9380

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC52-06NA25396; 2012CB825603; 41627805

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9380

Publisher:

American Geophysical Union

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

58 GEOSCIENCES; Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics