The development of a bursty precipitation front with intense localized parallel electric fields driven by whistler waves

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Abstract
The dynamics and structure of whistler turbulence relevant to electron acceleration in the Earth\textquoterights outer radiation belt is explored with simulations and comparisons with observations. An initial state with an electron temperature anisotropy in a spatially localized domain drives whistlers which scatter electrons. An outward propagating front of whistlers and hot electrons nonlinearly evolves to form regions of intense parallel electric field with structure similar to observations. The precipitating hot electrons propagate away from the source region in intense bunches rather than as a smooth flux.
Year of Publication
2015
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Date Published
03/2015
URL
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2015GL063528
DOI
10.1002/2015GL063528
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