Relativistic electron precipitation events driven by electromagnetic ion-cyclotron waves

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Abstract
We adopt a canonical approach to describe the stochastic motion of relativistic belt electrons and their scattering into the loss cone by nonlinear EMIC waves. The estimated rate of scattering is sufficient to account for the rate and intensity of bursty electron precipitation. This interaction is shown to result in particle scattering into the loss cone, forming \~10 s microbursts of precipitating electrons. These dynamics can account for the statistical correlations between processes of energization, pitch angle scattering, and relativistic electron precipitation events, that are manifested on large temporal scales of the order of the diffusion time \~tens of minutes.
Year of Publication
2014
Journal
Physics of Plasmas
Volume
21
Number of Pages
082901
Date Published
08/2014
ISSN Number
1070-664X
URL
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/pop/21/8/10.1063/1.4892185
DOI
10.1063/1.4892185
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