Antonova E. E., I. P. Kirpichev, M. V. Stepanova, K. G. Orlova, I. L. Ovchinnikov, (2009), Topology of the high latitude magnetosphere during large magnetic storms and the main mechanisms of relativistic electron acceleration, Advances In Space Research, 43, 628 – 633, doi:10.1016/j.asr.2008.09.011, Solar Extreme Events: Fundamental Science and Applied Aspects
Abstract
One of the main endeavors of the “Space Weather” program is the prediction of the appearance of very large fluxes of relativistic electrons with energies larger than 1MeV, because they represent a serious potential hazard for satellite missions. Large fluxes of relativistic electrons are formed in the outer radiation belt during the recovery phase of some storms. The formation of large fluxes is connected to a balance between the acceleration and loss processes. A two-step acceleration process is ordinarily analyzed. A “Seed” population with energies ∼hundreds of keV appeared during expansion phase of magnetospheric substorm. A “Seed” population is additionally accelerated obtaining relativistic energies by some other process. Several acceleration mechanisms have been proposed for the explanation of the electron acceleration, including radial diffusion and internal acceleration by wave-particle interactions. Nevertheless, none of them takes into account great changes of magnetospheric topology during a magnetic storm. Such changes are mainly connected with asymmetric and symmetric ring current development. We analyze the changes of magnetospheric topology during magnetic storms. We show that a change of the magnetospheric magnetic field can be the important factor determining the acceleration of relativistic electrons.Authors (sorted by name)
Antonova Kirpichev Orlova Ovchinnikov StepanovaJournal / Conference
Advances In Space ResearchAcknowledgments
RFBR Grant and FONDECYT Grant 1070131Grants
1070131Bibtex
@article{ANTONOVA2009628,
title = "Topology of the high latitude magnetosphere during large magnetic storms and the main mechanisms of relativistic electron acceleration",
journal = "Advances in Space Research",
volume = "43",
number = "4",
pages = "628 - 633",
year = "2009",
note = "Solar Extreme Events: Fundamental Science and Applied Aspects",
issn = "0273-1177",
doi = "10.1016/j.asr.2008.09.011",
url = "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027311770800505X",
author = "E.E. Antonova and I.P. Kirpichev and M.V. Stepanova and K.G. Orlova and I.L. Ovchinnikov",
keywords = "Magnetic storms, Magnetospheric currents, Magnetospheric pressure balance",
abstract = "One of the main endeavors of the “Space Weather” program is the prediction of the appearance of very large fluxes of relativistic electrons with energies larger than 1MeV, because they represent a serious potential hazard for satellite missions. Large fluxes of relativistic electrons are formed in the outer radiation belt during the recovery phase of some storms. The formation of large fluxes is connected to a balance between the acceleration and loss processes. A two-step acceleration process is ordinarily analyzed. A “Seed” population with energies ∼hundreds of keV appeared during expansion phase of magnetospheric substorm. A “Seed” population is additionally accelerated obtaining relativistic energies by some other process. Several acceleration mechanisms have been proposed for the explanation of the electron acceleration, including radial diffusion and internal acceleration by wave-particle interactions. Nevertheless, none of them takes into account great changes of magnetospheric topology during a magnetic storm. Such changes are mainly connected with asymmetric and symmetric ring current development. We analyze the changes of magnetospheric topology during magnetic storms. We show that a change of the magnetospheric magnetic field can be the important factor determining the acceleration of relativistic electrons."
}