Ion-dispersion and rapid electron fluctuations in the cusp: a case study

We present results from co-ordinated measurements with the low altitude REIMEI satellite and the ESR (EISCAT Svalbard Radar), together with other ground-based instruments carried out in February 2006. The results mainly relate to the dayside cusp where clear signatures of so-called ion-dispersion are seen in the satellite data. The cusp ion-dispersion is important for helping to understand the temporal and spatial structure of magnetopause reconnection. Whenever a satellite crosses boundaries of flux tubes or convection cells, cusp structures such as ion-dispersion will always be encountered. In our case we observed 3 distinct steps in the ion energy, but it includes at least 2 more steps as well, which we interpret as temporal features in relation to pulsed reconnection at the magnetopause. In addition, fast variations of the electron flux and energy occurring during these events have been studied in detail. The variations of the electron population, if interpreted as structures crossed by the REIMEI satellite, would map near the magnetopause to similar features as observed previously with the Cluster satellites. These were explained as Alfvén waves originating from an X-line of magnetic reconnection

Protons in the near-lunar wake observed by the Sub-keV Atom Reflection Analyzer on board Chandrayaan-1

Significant proton fluxes were detected in the near wake region of the Moon by an ion mass spectrometer on board Chandrayaan-1. The energy of these nightside protons is slightly higher than the energy of the solar wind protons. The protons are detected close to the lunar equatorial plane at a $140^{\circ}$ solar zenith angle, i.e., ~50$^{\circ}$ behind the terminator at a height of 100 km. The protons come from just above the local horizon, and move along the magnetic field in the solar wind reference frame. We compared the observed proton flux with the predictions from analytical models of an electrostatic plasma expansion into a vacuum. The observed velocity was higher than the velocity predicted by analytical models by a factor of 2 to 3. The simple analytical models cannot explain the observed ion dynamics along the magnetic field in the vicinity of the Moon.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

The correlation of ULF waves and auroral intensity before, during and after substorm expansion phase onset

We present case studies of the evolution of magnetic wave amplitudes and auroral intensity through the late growth phase and the expansion phase of the substorm cycle. We present strong evidence that substorm-related auroral enhancements are clearly and demonstrably linked to ULF wave amplitudes observed at the same location. In most cases, we find that the highest correlations are observed when the magnetometer time series is advanced in time, indicating that the ULF wave amplitudes start to grow before measured auroral intensities, though interestingly this is not always the case. Further we discuss the four possible reasons that may be able to explain both the timing and the high correlations between these two phenomena, including: a simple coincidence, an artifact of instrumental effects, the response of the ionosphere to magnetic waves and auroral particle precipitation, and finally that ULF waves and auroral particle precipitation are physically linked. We discount coincidence and instrumental effects since in the studies presented here they are unlikely or in general will contribute negligible effects, and we find that the ionospheric response to waves and precipitation can explain some, but not all of the results contained within this paper. Specifically, ionospheric response to substorm waves and auroral precipitation cannot explain that the result that previous studies have shown, that onset of ULF wave activity and the onset of auroral particle precipitation occur at the same time and in the same location. This leaves the possibility that ULF waves and auroral particles are physically linked

Field-Aligned Low-Energy O^+ Flux Enhancements in the Inner Magnetosphere Observed by Arase

The present study examines the low-energy ion flux variations observed by the Arase satellite in the inner magnetosphere. From the magnetic field and ion flux data obtained by the fluxgate magnetometer and the low-energy particle experiments–ion mass analyzer onboard Arase, we find 55 events of the low-energy O^+ flux enhancement accompanied with magnetic field dipolarization in the periods of April 1–October 31, 2017 and July 1, 2018–January 31, 2019. The low-energy O^+ flux enhancements (a) start a few minutes after the dipolarization onset, (b) have energy-dispersed signatures with decreasing energy from a few keV down to ∼10 eV, (c) are observed in both storm and non-storm periods, (d) have a field-aligned distribution (α ∼ 0° in the southern hemisphere and α ∼ 180° in the northern hemisphere), (e) are accompanied by the low-energy H^+ flux enhancements that have lower energies than O^+ by a factor of 3–10, and (f) increase the O^+ density and the O^+/H^+ density ratio by ∼10 times and 4–5 times, respectively. We perform a numerical simulation to trace ion trajectories forward in time from the Arase positions. It is revealed that both H^+ and O^+ ions drift eastward and reach the dawn-to-morning sector without being lost in the ionosphere, if the pitch angle scattering effect is considered near the equatorial plane. This result suggests that these low-energy field-aligned ions can contribute to formation of the warm plasma cloak.journal articl

Geospace Exploration ERG project

第3回極域科学シンポジウム/第36回極域宙空圏シンポジウム 11月26日（月）、27日（火） 国立極地研究所 2階ラウン

Relativistic Electron Microbursts as High‐Energy Tail of Pulsating Aurora Electrons

オーロラの明滅とともに、宇宙からキラー電子が降ってくることを解明. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-11-13.In this study, by simulating the wave‐particle interactions, we show that subrelativistic/relativistic electron microbursts form the high‐energy tail of pulsating aurora (PsA). Whistler‐mode chorus waves that propagate along the magnetic field lines at high latitudes cause precipitation bursts of electrons with a wide energy range from a few kiloelectron volts (PsA) to several megaelectron volts (relativistic microbursts). The rising tone elements of chorus waves cause individual microbursts of subrelativistic/relativistic electrons and the internal modulation of PsA with a frequency of a few hertz. The chorus bursts for a few seconds cause the microburst trains of subrelativistic/relativistic electrons and the main pulsations of PsA. Our simulation studies demonstrate that both PsA and relativistic electron microbursts originate simultaneously from pitch angle scattering by chorus wave‐particle interactions along the field line