Evolution of a Relativistic Electron Beam for Tracing Magnetospheric Field Lines
Abstract
Tracing magnetic field-lines of the Earth's magnetosphere using beams of relativistic electrons will open up new insights into space weather and magnetospheric physics. Analytic models and a single-particle-motion code were used to explore the dynamics of an electron beam emitted from an orbiting satellite and propagating until impact with the Earth. The impact location of the beam on the upper atmosphere is strongly influenced by magnetospheric conditions, shifting up to several degrees in latitude between different phases of a simulated storm. The beam density cross-section evolves due to cyclotron motion of the beam centroid and oscillations of the beam envelope. The impact density profile is ring shaped, with major radius ~22 m, given by the final cyclotron radius of the beam centroid, and ring thickness ~2 m given by the final beam envelope. Motion of the satellite may also act to spread the beam, however it will remain sufficiently focused for detection by ground-based optical and radio detectors. Furthermore, an array of such ground stations will be able to detect shifts in impact location of the beam, and thereby infer information regarding magnetospheric conditions.
- Authors:
-
- Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (United States)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States); Andrews Univ., Berrien Springs, MI (United States)
- SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- Contributing Org.:
- NSF's INSPIRE initiative through grant 1344303
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1579203
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-09CH11466
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2296-987X
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Citation Formats
Powis, Andrew T., Porazik, Peter, Greklek-Mckeon, Michael, Amin, Kailas, Shaw, David, Kaganovich, Igor D., Johnson, Jay, and Sanchez, Ennio. Evolution of a Relativistic Electron Beam for Tracing Magnetospheric Field Lines. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.3389/fspas.2019.00069.
Powis, Andrew T., Porazik, Peter, Greklek-Mckeon, Michael, Amin, Kailas, Shaw, David, Kaganovich, Igor D., Johnson, Jay, & Sanchez, Ennio. Evolution of a Relativistic Electron Beam for Tracing Magnetospheric Field Lines. United States. doi:10.3389/fspas.2019.00069.
Powis, Andrew T., Porazik, Peter, Greklek-Mckeon, Michael, Amin, Kailas, Shaw, David, Kaganovich, Igor D., Johnson, Jay, and Sanchez, Ennio. Thu .
"Evolution of a Relativistic Electron Beam for Tracing Magnetospheric Field Lines". United States. doi:10.3389/fspas.2019.00069. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1579203.
@article{osti_1579203,
title = {Evolution of a Relativistic Electron Beam for Tracing Magnetospheric Field Lines},
author = {Powis, Andrew T. and Porazik, Peter and Greklek-Mckeon, Michael and Amin, Kailas and Shaw, David and Kaganovich, Igor D. and Johnson, Jay and Sanchez, Ennio},
abstractNote = {Tracing magnetic field-lines of the Earth's magnetosphere using beams of relativistic electrons will open up new insights into space weather and magnetospheric physics. Analytic models and a single-particle-motion code were used to explore the dynamics of an electron beam emitted from an orbiting satellite and propagating until impact with the Earth. The impact location of the beam on the upper atmosphere is strongly influenced by magnetospheric conditions, shifting up to several degrees in latitude between different phases of a simulated storm. The beam density cross-section evolves due to cyclotron motion of the beam centroid and oscillations of the beam envelope. The impact density profile is ring shaped, with major radius ~22 m, given by the final cyclotron radius of the beam centroid, and ring thickness ~2 m given by the final beam envelope. Motion of the satellite may also act to spread the beam, however it will remain sufficiently focused for detection by ground-based optical and radio detectors. Furthermore, an array of such ground stations will be able to detect shifts in impact location of the beam, and thereby infer information regarding magnetospheric conditions.},
doi = {10.3389/fspas.2019.00069},
journal = {Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {11}
}
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