Modeling electron microburst induced by chorus waves
During magnetospheric storms, radiation belt electrons are produced and then removed on varying timescales. An efficient loss process is microbursts, strong, transient precipitation of electrons into the lower atmosphere over a wide energy range, from tens of keV to sub-relativistic and relativistic energies (100s keV and above). However, the detailed generation mechanism of microbursts, especially over sub-relativistic and relativistic energies, remains unknown. Here, we show that these energetic electron microbursts may be caused by ducted whistler-mode lower-band chorus waves. Using combined observations of equatorial chorus waves from Van Allen Probes and electron precipitation from low-altitude ELFIN, our data-driven simulations demonstrate that the observed microbursts are the result of resonant interaction of electrons with ducted chorus waves rather than nonducted ones. Revealing the physical mechanism behind the microbursts advances our understanding of radiation belt dynamics and its impact on the lower atmosphere and space weather.
Professor Lunjin Chen is a Eugene McDermott Professor of physics at the University of Texas at Dallas, specializing in space plasma physics and magnetospheric physics. He got his PhD degree at UCLA in 2011. After two-year postdoc there, he joined as assistant professor in 2013 at UTD. He has extensive experience (160+ publications) in the topics of magnetospheric physics, plasma instability, plasma wave propagation physics and wave-particle interactions.