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The acceleration of suprathermal electrons in the solar wind is mainlyassociated with shocks driven by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs).It is well known that the acceleration of electrons is much more efficient atquasi-perpendicular shocks than at quasi-parallel ones. Yang et al. (2018, ApJ,853, 89) (hereafter YEA2018) studied the acceleration of suprathermal electronsat a quasi-perpendicular ICME-driven shock event to claim the important role ofshock drift acceleration (SDA). Here, we perform test-particle simulations tostudy the acceleration of electrons in this event, by calculating thedownstream electron intensity distribution for all energy channels assuming aninitial distribution based on the averaged upstream intensities. We obtainsimulation results similar to the observations from YEA2018 as follows. It isshown that the ratio of downstream to upstream intensities peaks at about90$^\circ$ pitch angle. In addition, in each pitch angle direction thedownstream electron energy spectral index is much larger than the theoreticalindex of diffusive shock acceleration. Furthermore, considering SDA, theestimated drift length is proportional to the electron energy but the drifttime is almost energy independent. Finally, we use a theoretical model based onSDA to describe the drift length and time, especially, to explain their energydependence. These results indicate the importance of SDA in the acceleration ofelectrons by quasi-perpendicular shocks.

Suprathermal electron acceleration by a quasi-perpendicular shock: simulations and observations