Electron Pitch Angle Distribution Observations and Simulations Pertaining to Losses From the Inner Magnetosphere

Details Electron Pitch Angle Distribution Observations and Simulations Pertaining to Losses From the Inner Magnetosphere Electron Pitch Angle Distribution Observations and Simulations Pertaining to Losses From the Inner Magnetosphere

May 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agusmsm43a..01k&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SM43A-01

Physics

2720 Energetic Particles: Trapped, 2724 Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, 2731 Magnetosphere: Outer, 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics

Scientific paper

The Imaging Electron Sensor on the POLAR satellite has measured temporary deviations in the isotropy of the pitch angle distributions. Depressions occur in the flux of electrons with pitch angles around 90°, while the more field aligned electrons remain largely unchanged. These butterfly distributions are observed as the spacecraft passes through the magnetic equatorial plane on the night side. Electron paths of varied pitch angles were modeled using Runge-Kutta approximations from the Lorentz force in a Tsyganenko (T96) simulated magnetosphere. The first adiabatic invariant and the magnetic field strength at the bounce points were then calculated to assure consistency within the model. The resulting drift paths suggest that the process of magnetopause shadowing plays a significant role in the loss of these electrons. The severity of the flux decrease will vary depending on the specific event, but measurements return to isotropic distributions as the spacecraft leaves the equatorial zone. The drifting patterns of electrons from one specific observation, occurring on 3 October 2002, are modeled in detail from approximately 5:00 UT until 6:00 UT, at an altitude near 9 RE. When these particles drift toward the dawn flank and around to the day side, they travel at increasingly larger radial distance from the earth. Particles with pitch angles near 90° will have the largest radial expansion. This effect occasionally causes the drifting particles with these pitch angles to contact the prenoon magnetopause. Consequently, the electrons are lost into the magnetosheath from their drift orbits.

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