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Electron acceleration in a geomagnetic Field Line Resonance
Author(s) -
Damiano P. A.,
Johnson J. R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl050264
Subject(s) - physics , earth's magnetic field , electron , acceleration , resonance (particle physics) , field line , dipole , computational physics , kinetic energy , atomic physics , magnetic field , alfvén wave , field (mathematics) , line (geometry) , magnetohydrodynamics , classical mechanics , nuclear physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
A hybrid MHD kinetic‐electron model in dipolar coordinates is used to simulate the upward current region of a geomagnetic Field Line Resonance (FLR) system for a realistic ambient electron temperature of a keV. It is found that mirror force effects result in potential drops sufficient to accelerate electrons to energies in excess of a keV in support of field aligned currents on the order of 0.5 μ A/m 2 . The wave energy dissipated in this acceleration would completely damp an undriven FLR with an equatorial width of 0.5 R E within two resonance cycles.