Journal article
Evolution of Electron Distribution Driven by Nonlinear Resonances With Intense Field‐Aligned Chorus Waves
Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, v 123(10), pp 8149-8169
Oct 2018
Abstract
Resonant electron interaction with whistler mode chorus waves is recognized as one of the main drivers of radiation belt dynamics. For moderate wave intensity, this interaction is well described by quasi‐linear theory. However, recent statistics of parallel propagating chorus waves have demonstrated that 5–20% of the observed waves are sufficiently intense to interact nonlinearly with electrons. Such interactions include phase trapping and phase bunching (nonlinear scattering) effects not described by quasi‐linear diffusion. For sufficiently long (large) wave packets, these nonlinear effects can result in very rapid electron acceleration and scattering. In this paper we introduce a method to include trapping and nonlinear scattering into the kinetic equation describing the evolution of the electron distribution function. We use statistics of Van Allen Probes and Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms observations to determine the probability distribution of intense, long wave packets as a function of power and frequency. Then we develop an analytical model of individual particle resonance with an intense chorus wave packet and derive the main properties of this interaction: probability of electron trapping, energy change due to trapping and nonlinear scattering. These properties are combined in a nonlocal operator acting on the electron distribution function. When multiple waves are present, we average the obtained operator over the observed distributions of waves and examine solutions of the resultant kinetic equation. We also examine energy conservation and its implications in systems with nonlinear wave‐particle interaction.
Key Points
We propose a model of electron nonlinear resonant interaction with long and intense chorus wave packets
We derive a new generalized kinetic equation for electrons that encompasses nonlinear interactions with long chorus wave packets
Nonlinear interactions with long wave packets can produce rapid electron acceleration for observed wave characteristics
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Evolution of Electron Distribution Driven by Nonlinear Resonances With Intense Field‐Aligned Chorus Waves
- Creators
- D. Vainchtein - Drexel UniversityX.‐J. Zhang - University of CaliforniaA. V. Artemyev - University of California, Los AngelesD. Mourenas - CEA DAM Île-de-FranceV. Angelopoulos - University of California, Los AngelesR. M. Thorne - Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of California Los Angeles CA, USA
- Publication Details
- Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, v 123(10), pp 8149-8169
- Number of pages
- 21
- Grant note
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (NAS5-02099; NNN06AA01C) National Science Foundation (NSF) (CMMI-1740777)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- C. and J. Nyheim Plasma Institute
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000451038700006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85054605349
- Other Identifier
- 991019173658104721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics