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Statistical properties of the radiation belt seed population
Author(s) -
Boyd A. J.,
Spence H. E.,
Huang C.L.,
Reeves G. D.,
Baker D. N.,
Turner D. L.,
Claudepierre S. G.,
Fennell J. F.,
Blake J. B.,
Shprits Y. Y.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2016ja022652
Subject(s) - population , electron , radiation , acceleration , physics , van allen radiation belt , computational physics , nuclear physics , plasma , demography , classical mechanics , sociology , magnetosphere
We present a statistical analysis of phase space density data from the first 26 months of the Van Allen Probes mission. In particular, we investigate the relationship between the tens and hundreds of keV seed electrons and >1 MeV core radiation belt electron population. Using a cross‐correlation analysis, we find that the seed and core populations are well correlated with a coefficient of ≈0.73 with a time lag of 10–15 h. We present evidence of a seed population threshold that is necessary for subsequent acceleration. The depth of penetration of the seed population determines the inner boundary of the acceleration process. However, we show that an enhanced seed population alone is not enough to produce acceleration in the higher energies, implying that the seed population of hundreds of keV electrons is only one of several conditions required for MeV electron radiation belt acceleration.