Open AccessThree‐dimensional test simulations of the outer radiation belt electron dynamics including electron‐chorus resonant interactions
Author(s) -
Varotsou Athina,
Boscher Daniel,
Bourdarie Sebastien,
Horne Richard B.,
Meredith Nigel P.,
Glauert Sarah A.,
Friedel Reiner H.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2007ja012862
Subject(s) - van allen radiation belt , electron , physics , chorus , plasmasphere , van allen probes , population , radiation , diffusion , computational physics , atomic physics , magnetosphere , plasma , nuclear physics , art , literature , demography , sociology , thermodynamics
We present results from our three‐dimensional (3‐D) simulations using the Salammbô electron radiation belt physical model. We have run steady state and dynamic storm test case simulations to study the effect of electron‐chorus resonant interactions on the radiation belt electron dynamics. When electron‐chorus interactions are introduced in the code outside the plasmasphere, results show that a seed population with a kappa distribution and a characteristic energy of 2 keV is accelerated up to a few MeV in the outer radiation belt. MeV electron fluxes increase by an order of magnitude during high magnetic activity conditions especially near L * ∼ 5 and for equatorial mirroring particles. We have also performed a parametric study of various important parameters to investigate how our results could be influenced by the uncertainty that characterizes their values. Results of this study show that if we consider higher values of the radial diffusion coefficients, different initial states, and different boundary conditions, we always observe a peak in the L * profile of the MeV electrons when electron‐chorus interactions are included.