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Title: Wave analysis during energetic electron microinjections: A case study
The Magnetospheric Multi-scale Mission has frequently observed periodic bursts of counterstreaming electrons with energies ranging from ≈ 30 to 500 keV at the Earth's magnetospheric boundary layers, termed “microinjections.” Recently, a source region for microinjections was discovered at the high-latitude magnetosphere where microinjections showed up simultaneously at all energy channels and were organized by magnetic field variation associated with ultra low frequency mirror mode waves (MMWs) with ≈ 5 min periodicity. These MMWs were associated with strong higher frequency electromagnetic wave activity. Here, we have identified some of these waves as electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves. EMIC waves and parallel electric fields often lead to the radiation belt electron losses due to pitch-angle scattering. We show that, for the present event, the EMIC waves are not responsible for scattering electrons into a loss cone, and thus, they are unlikely to be responsible for the observed microinjection signature. We also find that the parallel electric field potentials within the waves are not adequate to explain the observed electrons with >90 keV energies. While whistler waves may contribute to the electron scattering and may exist during this event, there was no burst mode data available to verify this.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2308853
PAR ID:
10510448
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
AIP Publishing LLC
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Volume:
30
Issue:
7
ISSN:
1070-664X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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