Van Allen Probes observations of structured whistler mode activity and coincident electron Landau acceleration inside a remnant plasmaspheric plume

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Abstract
We present observations from the Van Allen Probes spacecraft that identify a region of intense whistler mode activity within a large density enhancement outside of the plasmasphere. We speculate that this density enhancement is part of a remnant plasmaspheric plume, with the observed wave being driven by a weakly anisotropic electron injection that drifted into the plume and became nonlinearly unstable to whistler emission. Particle measurements indicate that a significant fraction of thermal (<100 eV) electrons within the plume were subject to Landau acceleration by these waves, an effect that is naturally explained by whistler emission within a gradient and high-density ducting inside a density enhancement.
Year of Publication
2017
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Date Published
03/2017
URL
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2015JA022219
DOI
10.1002/2015JA022219
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