Effect of EMIC Waves on the Lifetime of Energetic Electrons in the Earth's Inner Radiation Belt

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

2483 Wave/Particle Interactions (7867), 2487 Wave Propagation (0689, 3285, 4275, 4455, 6934), 2720 Energetic Particles: Trapped, 2774 Radiation Belts

Scientific paper

The stably trapped electrons in the inner radiation belt have lifetimes of years and energies higher than a few hundred keV. These energetic electrons can have serious effects on the way spacecrafts and satellites operate and cause significant hazards to low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. For mitigating these hazards it is necessary to investigate ways for reducing the electron life times, for example, through pitch angle scattering by waves. For these waves, the gyro-resoance condition yields the minimum wavelength requirement for given particle energy and local magnetic field. For example, at the magnetic equator at L = 2 the waves resonant with 1 MeV electrons should have wavelengths less than 10 km. Low frequency Electromagnetic Ion-Cyclotron (EMIC) waves occur in three bands with frequencies below the hydrogen, helium, and oxygen ion gyro-frequencies, respectively. At frequencies close to the ion gyro-frequencies, the EMIC waves can have wavelength short enough to gyro-resonate with energetic electrons, which can lead to significant changes in the lifetimes of electrons in the inner ration belt. However at these altitudes the amplitudes of naturally excited EMIC waves do not yield significant scattering of the energetic electrons and artificial sources are needed. In order to define the characteristics of such sources we investigated the lifetime of inner belt energetic electrons subject to pitch angle scattering with EMIC waves. The resonant wave characteristics are obtained using the global core plasma model (GCPM). The lifetimes of the electrons in the presence of these waves are computed using the pitch angle diffusion coefficient for broadband waves. For several hundred Watts of broadband EMIC waves in the shell volume enclosed by magnetic field lines at L = 2.0 with width dL = 0.1, the lifetime of 1 MeV electrons can be reduced to a few months. This is a considerable reduction compared to the average life times of about years and have important consequences, including remediation of artificially enhanced energetic electron fluxes.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Effect of EMIC Waves on the Lifetime of Energetic Electrons in the Earth's Inner Radiation Belt does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Effect of EMIC Waves on the Lifetime of Energetic Electrons in the Earth's Inner Radiation Belt, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Effect of EMIC Waves on the Lifetime of Energetic Electrons in the Earth's Inner Radiation Belt will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1096183

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.