Journal article
Electron Acceleration in the Heart of the Van Allen Radiation Belts
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.341(6149), pp.991-994
08/30/2013
DOI: 10.1126/science.1237743
PMID: 23887876
Abstract
The Van Allen radiation belts contain ultrarelativistic electrons trapped in Earth’s magnetic field. Since their discovery in 1958, a fundamental unanswered question has been how electrons can be accelerated to such high energies. Two classes of processes have been proposed: transport and acceleration of electrons from a source population located outside the radiation belts (radial acceleration) or acceleration of lower-energy electrons to relativistic energies in situ in the heart of the radiation belts (local acceleration). We report measurements from NASA’s Van Allen Radiation Belt Storm Probes that clearly distinguish between the two types of acceleration. The observed radial profiles of phase space density are characteristic of local acceleration in the heart of the radiation belts and are inconsistent with a predominantly radial acceleration process.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Electron Acceleration in the Heart of the Van Allen Radiation Belts
- Creators
- G. D Reeves - Los Alamos National LaboratoryH. E Spence - University of New HampshireM. G Henderson - Los Alamos National LaboratoryS. K Morley - Los Alamos National LaboratoryR. H. W Friedel - Los Alamos National LaboratoryH. O Funsten - Los Alamos National LaboratoryD. N Baker - University of Colorado BoulderS. G Kanekal - Goddard Space Flight CenterJ. B Blake - The Aerospace CorporationJ. F Fennell - The Aerospace CorporationS. G Claudepierre - The Aerospace CorporationR. M Thorne - University of California, Los AngelesD. L Turner - University of California, Los AngelesC. A Kletzing - University of IowaW. S Kurth - University of IowaB. A Larsen - Los Alamos National LaboratoryJ. T Niehof - Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.341(6149), pp.991-994
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.1237743
- PMID
- 23887876
- ISSN
- 0036-8075
- eISSN
- 1095-9203
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/30/2013
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984199939602771
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