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Radiation belt electrons are strongly affected by resonant interactions with cyclotron-resonant waves. In the case of a particle passing through resonance with a single, coherent wave, a Hamiltonian formulation is advantageous. With certain approximations, the Hamiltonian has the same form as that for a plane pendulum, leading to estimates of the change at resonance of the first adiabatic invariant I , energy, and pitch angle. In the case of large wave amplitude (relative to the spatial variation of the background magnetic field), the resonant change in I and its conjugate phase angle ξ are not diffusive but determined by nonlinear dynamics. A general analytical treatment of slow separatrix crossing has long been available and can be used to give the changes in I associated with “phase bunching,” including the detailed dependence on ξ , in the nonlinear regime. Here we review this treatment, evaluate it numerically, and relate it to previous analytical results for nonlinear wave-particle interactions. “Positive phase bunching” can occur for some particles even in the pendulum Hamiltonian approximation, though the fraction of such particles may be exponentially small.
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Equations of Motion Near Cyclotron Resonance
This work compares several versions of the equations of motion for a test particle encountering cyclotron resonance with a single, field-aligned whistler mode wave. The gyro-averaged Lorentz equation produces both widespread phase trapping (PT) and “positive phase bunching” of low pitch angle electrons by large amplitude waves. Approximations allow a Hamiltonian description to be reduced to a single pair of conjugate variables, which can account for PT as well as phase bunching at moderate pitch angle, and has recently been used to investigate this unexpected bahavior at low pitch angle. Here, numerical simulations using the Lorentz equation and several versions of Hamiltonian-based equations of motion are compared. Similar behavior at low pitch angle is found in each case.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1847818
- PAR ID:
- 10399057
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
- Volume:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2296-987X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.910224
