Víctor A. Pinto

Revisit of relationship between geosynchronous relativistic electron enhancements and magnetic storms

We find evidence that magnetic storms are not only unnecessary for geosynchronous relativistic electron enhancements but also not directly relevant to the electron enhancements even if the enhancements are accompanied by magnetic storms. What is crucial for electron enhancements at geosynchronous orbit are sustained south-oriented or north-south fluctuating interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz that drives sufficiently large substorm activity and small solar wind density Nsw that likely leads to low loss rate of relativistic electrons to the ionosphere and/or to the magnetopause for an extended time period. Specifically, almost all the abrupt, large electron increases in our data set took place under the condition of average AE > 235 nT and average Nsw ≤ 5 cm−3. Examination of detailed time profiles clearly shows that electron flux starts to increase quite immediately with arrival of the right IMF and solar wind conditions, regardless of a magnetic storm, leaving the accompanied magnetic storms merely coincident.

Processes in auroral oval and outer electron radiation belt

We have analyzed the role of auroral processes in the formation of the outer radiation belt, considering that the main part of the auroral oval maps to the outer part of the ring current, instead of the plasma sheet as is commonly postulated. In this approach, the outer ring current is the region where transverse magnetospheric currents close inside the magnetosphere. Specifically, we analyzed the role of magnetospheric substorms in the appearance of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt. We present experimental evidence that the presence of substorms during a geomagnetic storm recovery phase is, in fact, very important for the appearance of a new radiation belt during this phase. We discuss the possible role of adiabatic acceleration of relativistic electrons during storm recovery phase and show that this mechanism may accelerate the relativistic electrons by more than one order of magnitude.

What is the temperature of a moving body

The construction of a relativistic thermodynamics theory is still controversial after more than 110 years. To the date there is no agreement on which set of relativistic transformations of thermodynamic quantities is the correct one, or if the problem even has a solution. Starting from Planck and Einstein, several authors have proposed their own reasoning, concluding that a moving body could appear cooler, hotter or at the same temperature as measured by a local observer. In this article we present a review of the main theories of relativistic thermodynamics, with an special emphasis on the physical assumptions adopted by each one. We also present a set of relativistic transformations that we have derived by assuming the laws of Thermodynamics to be covariant. We found that under such assumptions a moving body appears to be hotter. Since relativistic thermodynamics is a topic that can be treated as part of an undergraduate course of classical thermodynamics or modern physics, the review and our own derivations presented here aim to encourage undergraduate physics students to open a discussion on the fundamental assumptions in thermodynamics and to engage in research activities early in their scientific career.