Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsm24a..07a&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SM24A-07
Physics
2407 Auroral Ionosphere (2704), 2455 Particle Precipitation, 2736 Magnetosphere/Ionosphere Interactions (2431), 2764 Plasma Sheet
Scientific paper
A population of bidirectional low energy (~100 eV) electrons is commonly observed within the magnetotail plasma sheet by Cluster, in coexistence with the hot plasma sheet electron population. We interpret the cold electron population to be secondary electrons formed by the precipitation of higher energy particles [Kleitzing and Scudder, 1999]. Subsequent diffusion in pitch angle spread the cold electrons out of the loss cone to form a trapped population in the plasma sheet. Using an automated procedure of spectral fitting, we identify the presence (or absence) of this population, as well as parameters such as temperature and beam half-width. We expect the temperature of the cold population to correlate with the temperature of the collocated hot plasma sheet if this precipitation of the latter is really the source. The pitch angle width of the cold population will provide information on the rate of pitch angle scattering. We will also compare the plasma sheet state during the presence and absence of the cold electron population, in an attempt to understand the generation mechanism better. This cold electron population may be useful as a tracer for diffuse aurora, in a region where the precipitation loss cone cannot be distinguished with current instrumentation.
Åsnes A.
Simon Ch.
Taylor M. G.
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