Van Allen Probes observation of localized drift-resonance between poloidal mode ultra-low frequency waves and 60 keV electrons

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Abstract
[1] We present NASA Van Allen Probes observations of wave-particle interactions between magnetospheric ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves and energetic electrons (20\textendash500 keV) on 31 October 2012. The ULF waves are identified as the fundamental poloidal mode oscillation and are excited following an interplanetary shock impact on the magnetosphere. Large amplitude modulations in energetic electron flux are observed at the same period (≈ 3 min) as the ULF waves and are consistent with a drift-resonant interaction. The azimuthal mode number of the interacting wave is estimated from the electron measurements to be ~40, based on an assumed symmetric drift resonance. The drift-resonant interaction is observed to be localized and occur over 5\textendash6 wave cycles, demonstrating peak electron flux modulations at energies ~60 keV. Our observation clearly shows electron drift resonance with the fundamental poloidal mode, the energy dependence of the amplitude and phase of the electron flux modulations providing strong evidence for such an interaction. Significantly, the observation highlights the importance of localized wave-particle interactions for understanding energetic particle dynamics in the inner magnetosphere, through the intermediary of ULF waves.
Year of Publication
2013
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
40
Number of Pages
4491\textendash4497
Date Published
09/2013
URL
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/grl.50901/full
DOI
10.1002/grl.50901
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