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Evolution of Electron Distribution Driven by Nonlinear Resonances With Intense Field‐Aligned Chorus Waves
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Evolution of Electron Distribution Driven by Nonlinear Resonances With Intense Field‐Aligned Chorus Waves

D. Vainchtein, X.‐J. Zhang, A. V. Artemyev, D. Mourenas, V. Angelopoulos and R. M. Thorne
Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, v 123(10), pp 8149-8169
Oct 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025654
url
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018ja025654View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Maybe Open Access (Publisher Bronze),  Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025654View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

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

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Astronomy & Astrophysics
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