G. B. Hospodarsky

Rapid local acceleration of relativistic radiation-belt electrons by magnetospheric chorus.

Recent analysis of satellite data obtained during the 9 October 2012 geomagnetic storm identified the development of peaks in electron phase space density, which are compelling evidence for local electron acceleration in the heart of the outer radiation belt, but are inconsistent with acceleration by inward radial diffusive transport. However, the precise physical mechanism responsible for the acceleration on 9 October was not identified. Previous modelling has indicated that a magnetospheric electromagnetic emission known as chorus could be a potential candidate for local electron acceleration, but a definitive resolution of the importance of chorus for radiation-belt acceleration was not possible because of limitations in the energy range and resolution of previous electron observations and the lack of a dynamic global wave model. Here we report high-resolution electron observations obtained during the 9 October storm and demonstrate, using a two-dimensional simulation performed with a recently developed time-varying data-driven model, that chorus scattering explains the temporal evolution of both the energy and angular distribution of the observed relativistic electron flux increase. Our detailed modelling demonstrates the remarkable efficiency of wave acceleration in the Earth’s outer radiation belt, and the results presented have potential application to Jupiter, Saturn and other magnetized astrophysical objects.

Chorus source locations from VLF Poynting flux measurements with the Polar spacecraft

Previous studies have used indirect evidence to argue that whistler-mode chorus emissions are generated near the magnetic equator. In this paper a spatial survey of wave normals and Poynting vectors computed from three-component electric and magnetic field measurements is used to show that chorus is generated very close to the magnetic equator. One surprising result is that there are almost no chorus emissions propagating toward the magnetic equator, such as might be expected from high-latitude magnetospheric reflections. The absence of a reflected component indicates that the chorus is reabsorbed, probably by Landau damping, before returning to the magnetic equatorial plane.

Electron densities inferred from plasma wave spectra obtained by the Waves instrument on Van Allen Probes

The twin Van Allen Probe spacecraft, launched in August 2012, carry identical scientific payloads. The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science suite includes a plasma wave instrument (Waves) that measures three magnetic and three electric components of plasma waves in the frequency range of 10 Hz to 12 kHz using triaxial search coils and the Electric Fields and Waves triaxial electric field sensors. The Waves instrument also measures a single electric field component of waves in the frequency range of 10 to 500 kHz. A primary objective of the higher-frequency measurements is the determination of the electron density ne at the spacecraft, primarily inferred from the upper hybrid resonance frequency fuh. Considerable work has gone into developing a process and tools for identifying and digitizing the upper hybrid resonance frequency in order to infer the electron density as an essential parameter for interpreting not only the plasma wave data from the mission but also as input to various magnetospheric models. Good progress has been made in developing algorithms to identify fuh and create a data set of electron densities. However, it is often difficult to interpret the plasma wave spectra during active times to identify fuh and accurately determine ne. In some cases, there is no clear signature of the upper hybrid band, and the low-frequency cutoff of the continuum radiation is used. We describe the expected accuracy of ne and issues in the interpretation of the electrostatic wave spectrum.

The Polar plasma wave instrument

The Plasma Wave Instrument on the Polar spacecraft is designed to provide measurements of plasma waves in the Earths polar regions over the frequency range from 0.1 Hz to 800 kHz. Three orthogonal electric dipole antennas are used to detect electric fields, two in the spin plane and one aligned along the spacecraft spin axis. A magnetic loop antenna and a triaxial magnetic search coil antenna are used to detect magnetic fields. Signals from these antennas are processed by five receiver systems: a wideband receiver, a high-frequency waveform receiver, a low-frequency waveform receiver, two multichannel analyzers; and a pair of sweep frequency receivers. Compared to previous plasma wave instruments, the Polar plasma wave instrument has several new capabilities. These include (1) an expanded frequency range to improve coverage of both low- and high-frequency wave phenomena, (2) the ability to simultaneously capture signals from six orthogonal electric and magnetic field sensors, and (3) a digital wideband receiver with up to 8-bit resolution and sample rates as high as 249k samples s−1.

Radiation belt electron acceleration by chorus waves during the 17 March 2013 storm

Local acceleration driven by whistler-mode chorus waves is fundamentally important for accelerating seed electron populations to highly relativistic energies in the outer radiation belt. In this study, we quantitatively evaluate chorus-driven electron acceleration during the 17 March 2013 storm, when the Van Allen Probes observed very rapid electron acceleration up to several MeV within ~12 hours. A clear radial peak in electron phase space density (PSD) observed near L* ~4 indicates that an internal local acceleration process was operating. We construct the global distribution of chorus wave intensity from the low-altitude electron measurements made by multiple Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) satellites over a broad region, which is ultimately used to simulate the radiation belt electron dynamics driven by chorus waves. Our simulation results show remarkable agreement in magnitude, timing, energy dependence, and pitch angle distribution with the observed electron PSD near its peak location. However, radial diffusion and other loss processes may be required to explain the differences between the observation and simulation at other locations away from the PSD peak. Our simulation results, together with previous studies, suggest that local acceleration by chorus waves is a robust and ubiquitous process and plays a critical role in accelerating injected seed electrons with convective energies (~100 keV) to highly relativistic energies (several MeV).

Fine structure of large‐amplitude chorus wave packets

Whistler mode chorus waves in the outer Van Allen belt can have consequences for acceleration of relativistic electrons through wave-particle interactions. New multicomponent waveform measurements have been collected by the Van Allen Probes Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Sciences Waves instrument. We detect fine structure of chorus elements with peak instantaneous amplitudes of a few hundred picotesla but exceptionally reaching up to 3 nT, i.e., more than 1% of the background magnetic field. The wave vector direction turns by a few tens of degrees within a single chorus element but also within its subpackets. Our analysis of a significant number of subpackets embedded in rising frequency elements shows that amplitudes of their peaks tend to decrease with frequency. The wave vector is quasi-parallel to the background magnetic field for large-amplitude subpackets, while it turns away from this direction when the amplitudes are weaker.

Statistical properties of plasmaspheric hiss derived from Van Allen Probes data and their effects on radiation belt electron dynamics

Author(s): Li, W; Ma, Q; Thorne, RM; Bortnik, J; Kletzing, CA; Kurth, WS; Hospodarsky, GB; Nishimura, Y | Abstract: ©2015. American Geophysical Union. Plasmaspheric hiss is known to play an important role in controlling the overall structure and dynamics of radiation belt electrons inside the plasmasphere. Using newly available Van Allen Probes wave data, which provide excellent coverage in the entire inner magnetosphere, we evaluate the global distribution of the hiss wave frequency spectrum and wave intensity for different levels of substorm activity. Our statistical results show that observed hiss peak frequencies are generally lower than the commonly adopted value (~550Hz), which was in frequent use, and that the hiss wave power frequently extends below 100Hz, particularly at larger L shells ( g ~3) on the dayside during enhanced levels of substorm activity. We also compare electron pitch angle scattering rates caused by hiss using the new statistical frequency spectrum and the previously adopted Gaussian spectrum and find that the differences are up to a factor of ~5 and are dependent on energy and L shell. Moreover, the new statistical hiss wave frequency spectrum including wave power below 100Hz leads to increased pitch angle scattering rates by a factor of ~1.5 for electrons above ~100keV at L~5, although their effect is negligible at L≤3. Consequently, we suggest that the new realistic hiss wave frequency spectrum should be incorporated into future modeling of radiation belt electron dynamics.

Fine structure of Langmuir waves produced by a solar electron event

Highly structured bursts of Langmuir waves produced by energetic electrons ejected from a solar flare have been observed using wideband plasma wave measurements on the Galileo spacecraft. The wideband sampling system on Galileo provides digital electric field waveforms at sampling rates up to 201,600 samples s−1, much higher than any previous instrument of this type. The solar flare of interest occurred on December 10, 1990, while the spacecraft was at a radial distance of 0.98 AU from the Sun. This flare emitted a stream of energetic electrons and an associated type III radio event, both of which were detected by Galileo. Starting about 1 hour after the onset of the flare, a large number of intense Langmuir wave bursts were detected near the local electron plasma frequency, which was about 25 kHz. The Langmuir wave bursts, which lasted about 1.5 hours, coincided with the arrival of the solar electrons. The bursts are highly structured and consist mainly of isolated wave packets with durations as short as 1 ms and beat-type waveforms with beat frequencies ranging from 200 to 500 Hz. The peak electric field strengths are about 1.7 mV m−1. The highly structured envelopes of these waves are strongly suggestive of nonlinear parametric decay processes such as those predicted by various theories dealing with the saturation of beam-driven electrostatic instabilities. However, the intensities are too low for strong turbulence effects to be important.

Resonant scattering of energetic electrons by unusual low-frequency hiss

We quantify the resonant scattering effects of the unusual low-frequency dawnside plasmaspheric hiss observed on 30 September 2012 by the Van Allen Probes. In contrast to normal (~100–2000 Hz) hiss emissions, this unusual hiss event contained most of its wave power at ~20–200 Hz. Compared to the scattering by normal hiss, the unusual hiss scattering speeds up the loss of ~50–200 keV electrons and produces more pronounced pancake distributions of ~50–100 keV electrons. It is demonstrated that such unusual low-frequency hiss, even with a duration of a couple of hours, plays a particularly important role in the decay and loss process of energetic electrons, resulting in shorter electron lifetimes for ~50–400 keV electrons than normal hiss, and should be carefully incorporated into global modeling of radiation belt electron dynamics during periods of intense injections.

Global MHD simulations of Saturn's magnetosphere at the time of Cassini approach

We present the results of a 3D global magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the magnetosphere of Saturn for the period of Cassinis initial approach and entry into the magnetosphere. We compare calculated bow shock and magnetopause locations with the Cassini measurements. In order to match the measured locations we use a substantial mass source due to the icy satellites (∼1 x 10 28 s -1 of water product ions). We find that the location of bow shock and magnetopause crossings are consistent with previous spacecraft measurements, although Cassini encountered the surfaces further from Saturn than the previously determined average location. In addition, we find that the shape of the model bow shock and magnetopause have smaller flaring angles than previous models and are asymmetric dawn-to-dusk. Finally, we find that tilt of Saturns dipole and rotation axes results in asymmetries in the bow shock and magnetopause and in the magnetotail being hinged near Titans orbit (∼20 R S ).