Calculation of Diffusion Coefficients from Bounce Resonance with Magnetosonic Waves

Abstract:

Theoretical bounce resonance diffusion coefficients for interactions between electrons and magnetosonic waves are calculated and validated using guiding-center test particle simulations. First, we compare the theoretical diffusion coefficients of Roberts and Schulz with test particle simulations and find perfect agreement. However, the theoretical diffusion coefficients of Roberts and Schulz assume waves to be present on the whole trajectories of particles; therefore, they are not directly applicable to magnetosonic waves, which are found to be confined to equatorial regions from observations. Second, we derive a new set of bounce-resonance diffusion coefficients, taking into consideration the equatorial confinement of magnetosonic waves. These new diffusion coefficients are also validated by test particle simulations. Using a previously published magnetosonic wave model, our results demonstrate that bounce-resonance diffusion mainly results in strong pitch angle scattering of energetic electrons even with a moderate wave amplitude of 50 pT. We conclude that bounce-resonance diffusion plays an important role in relativistic electron dynamics and should be incorporated into global radiation belt modeling.