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Precipitation of suprathermal (100 EV) Electrons by oblique whistler waves
Author(s) -
Jasna D.,
Inan U. S.,
Bell T. F.
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.1029/92gl01811
Subject(s) - electron , whistler , physics , pitch angle , electron precipitation , oblique case , scattering , van allen radiation belt , computational physics , atomic physics , magnetic field , optics , magnetosphere , geophysics , nuclear physics , linguistics , philosophy , quantum mechanics
Electron precipitation induced by oblique whistler waves is investigated using a new test particle simulation code based on gyro‐averaged equations of motion. Results indicate that highly oblique waves can efficiently pitch angle scatter suprathermal electrons (10–100 eV). At L = 3, for example, in a single encounter with a wave with power density S ∼ 8 pW/m 2 and propagating at ψ = 60° with respect to the Earth magnetic field B o , average pitch angle scattering of 100 eV electrons is ∼ 0.1°. In comparison, the average scattering of energetic (100 keV) electrons by a parallel propagating wave with the same S is ∼ 0.01°. Estimates indicate that the precipitated electron energy fluxes resulting from the interaction of ∼ 100 eV electrons with oblique waves can be up to 30 times larger than that due to the precipitation of 100 keV electrons by parallel propagating waves.