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Other Physics

New Jersey Institute of Technology

2013

Radiation belts

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A Statistical Study Of Plasmawaves And Energetic Particles In The Outer Magnetosphere, Kyungguk Min May 2013

A Statistical Study Of Plasmawaves And Energetic Particles In The Outer Magnetosphere, Kyungguk Min

Dissertations

The Earth magnetosphere contains energetic particles undergoing specific motions around Earth’s magnetic field, and interacting with a variety of waves. The dynamics of energetic particles are often described in terms of three kinds of adiabatic invariants. Energetic electrons are often unstable to the whistler-mode chorus waves, and ions, to the electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) instability. These waves play an important role in the dynamics of the magnetosphere by energizing electrons to form a radiation belt, extracting energy from the hot, anisotropic ions and causing pitch angle scattering of energetic ions and relativistic electrons into the loss cone. EMIC waves correspond …