Open AccessElectron Acceleration in the Aurora and Beyond
Author(s) -
Schulz Michael
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/99eo00314
Subject(s) - physics , cosmic ray , electron , acceleration , fermi gamma ray space telescope , fermi acceleration , ionosphere , particle acceleration , space (punctuation) , range (aeronautics) , astrophysical plasma , charged particle , space physics , astrophysics , astronomy , computational physics , nuclear physics , ion , aerospace engineering , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics , computer science , engineering , operating system
Charged particles that populate Earth's space environment span an enormous range of kinetic energies, from less than 1 eV in the ionosphere to millions of GeV in the spectrum of cosmic rays. Duncan Bryant's ambitious new book, Electron Acceleration in the Aurora and Beyond , spans approximately this range as well. This is a delightful book, in which the author uses mainly words and diagrams to provide clear explanations of a large variety of space plasma topics, all related in some way to charged particles in space. The scope of the book extends well beyond mechanisms of electron acceleration. It begins at a very elementary level by introducing the mass and charge of an electron, and it ends (apart from appendices) with careful discussions of first‐order and second‐order Fermi acceleration of galactic electrons to cosmic ray energies.