Strong Diffusion of Energetic Electrons by Equatorial Chorus Waves in the Midnight-to-Dawn Sector

S. Kasahara, Y. Miyoshi, S. Kurita, S. Yokota, K. Keika, T. Hori, Y. Kasahara, S. Matsuda, A. Kumamoto, A. Matsuoka, K. Seki, I. Shinohara

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Drastic variations of radiation-belt/ring current electrons are the result of competing processes of acceleration, transport, and loss. For subrelativistic energetic electrons (10–100 keV), one of the promising loss mechanisms is precipitation into the atmosphere due to pitch angle scattering by whistler mode chorus waves. The efficiency of the scattering has yet to be quantified by direct observations, however. Using in situ measurements by the ERG (Arase) spacecraft in the midnight-to-dawn sector at and around the magnetic equator, we demonstrate that the full filling of energetic electron loss cones occurs commonly, associated with typical-amplitude (greater than 50 pT) chorus waves. The spatial distribution of the loss cone filling indicates that the efficient scattering is limited to |MLAT|< 10°.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12685-12692
Number of pages8
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume46
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019 Nov 28

Keywords

  • loss cone
  • precipitation
  • strong diffusion
  • wave-particle interaction

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