Bounce averaged diffusion coefficients in a physics based magnetic field geometry from RAM-SCB

Abstract:

Local acceleration via whistler wave and particle interaction plays an important role in particle dynamics in the radiation belt. In this work we explore wave-particle interaction in different magnetic field configurations related to the 17 March, 2013 storm. We consider the Earth's magnetic dipole field as a reference, and compare the results against non-dipole field configurations corresponding to quiet and stormy conditions. The latter are obtained with RAM-SCB, a code that models the Earth's ring current and provides a realistic modeling of the Earth's magnetic field. By applying quasi-linear theory, the bounce-averaged electron pitch angle, energy and mixed term diffusion coefficients are calculated for each magnetic field configuration. It is shown that the magnetic field can have a significant influence on the diffusion coefficients via the wave-particle resonance condition. In addition, the equatorial pitch angle, wave frequency and spectral distribution of whistler waves also affect the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients in particle energy range from KeV to MeV. Part of the ongoing work will focus on the phase space density evolution based on the Fokker-Planck equation with the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients previously calculated.