Ultra-low-frequency wave-driven diffusion of radiation belt relativistic electrons

Su, Zhenpeng; Zhu, Hui; Xiao, Fuliang; Zong, Q. -G.; Zhou, X. -Z.; Zheng, Huinan; Wang, Yuming; Wang, Shui; Hao, Y. -X.; Gao, Zhonglei; He, Zhaoguo; Baker, D. N.; Spence, H. E.; Reeves, G. D.; Blake, J. B.; Wygant, J. R.

doi:10.1038/ncomms10096

Title: Ultra-low-frequency wave-driven diffusion of radiation belt relativistic electrons

Journal Article · Tue Dec 22 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10096· OSTI ID:1236062

^[1]; Zhu, Hui ^[1]; Xiao, Fuliang ^[2]; Zong, Q. -G. ^[3]; Zhou, X. -Z. ^[3]; Zheng, Huinan ^[1];

^[1]; Wang, Shui ^[1]; Hao, Y. -X. ^[3]; Gao, Zhonglei ^[1]; He, Zhaoguo ^[4]; Baker, D. N. ^[5]; Spence, H. E. ^[6]; Reeves, G. D. ^[7]; Blake, J. B. ^[8]; Wygant, J. R. ^[9]

Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
Changsha Univ. of Science and Technology (China)
Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
Harbin Inst. of Technology (China). Shenzhen Graduate School
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

The Van Allen radiation belts are typically two zones of energetic particles encircling the Earth separated by the slot region. How the outer radiation belt electrons are accelerated to relativistic energies remains an unanswered question. Recent studies have presented compelling evidence for the local acceleration by very-low-frequency (VLF) chorus waves. However, there has been a competing theory to the local acceleration, radial diffusion by ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves, whose importance has not yet been determined definitively. Here we report a unique radiation belt event with intense ULF waves but no detectable VLF chorus waves. So, our results demonstrate that the ULF waves moved the inner edge of the outer radiation belt earthward 0.3 Earth radii and enhanced the relativistic electron fluxes by up to one order of magnitude near the slot region within about 10 h, providing strong evidence for the radial diffusion of radiation belt relativistic electrons.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

OSTI ID:: 1236062

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-15-28804; ncomms10096

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 66 works

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