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A mechanism by which solar proton (SP) events and relativistic electron precipitation (REP) events may lead to the production of stratospheric NO is described. The process comprises the production of N2O in the mesosphere, its downward migration, and conversion in the stratosphere to NO by the reaction N2O + O(D) yields 2NO. This process would amplify direct NO production by more than 10%.
The scattering of a Langmuir wave by a relativistic electron to produce a transversely polarized high-frequency EM wave by an inverse Compton process is investigated theoretically. The results of numerical computations are presented in diagrams and graphs, and it is shown that although net growth rates are predicted for several classes of Langmuir spectra, they are at least several orders of magnitude too small to account for the intense high-frequency emission seen in recent beam-plasma experiments (Benford et al., 1980; Kato et al., 1983) unless some unknown coherence mechanism is focusing the inverse-Compton emission. The implications of the mechanism for astrophysical beam-plasma systems such as quasars and radio galaxies are indicated.
Recent models for the ion and relativistic electron transport in solar flare magnetic loops are reviewed, focusing on the ways in which the models handle loop structure, particle acceleration, and particle transport. Results are presented from Monte Carlo simulations of ion and relativistic ion transport. Consideration is given to results concerning the depth distributions of gamma-ray production, the attenuation of gamma-ray lines, the time dependences of the various emissions and the angular distribution of the bremsstrahlung.
The High Energy Particle Spectrometer (HEPS) instrument on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) provides a database of electron intensities well resolved in energy and pitch-angle. Because of its 57 deg. orbital inclination, UARS encounters with magnetic shells L greater than 2 occur quite far off-equator (B/B (sub 0) greater than 9), corresponding to equatorial pitch angle alpha (sub 0) greater than 20 deg. Data acquired by HEPS (October 1991 through September 1994) span the declining phase of Solar Cycle 22. To reveal the storm-associated time dependence of relativistic electron intensities over the wide range of energies (50 keV to 5 MeV) covered by HEPS, we divide the daily average of the measured spectrum at a given L value (bin width = 0.25) by the corresponding 500-day average and plot the results with a color scale that spans only 2.5 decades. The data show that our off-equatorial electron intensities typically increase with time after the end of recovery phase (not during main phase or recovery phase) of each geomagnetic storm. The delay in off-equatorial energetic electron response and the subsequent lifetime of the corresponding electron flux enhancement seem to increase with particle energy above 300 keV. The trend below 300 keV seems to be opposite, such that the delay varies inversely with electron energy. Our working hypothesis for interpretation is that stormtime radial transport tends to increase the phase-space densities of trapped relativistic electrons but typically leads to a flux increases at specified energies only as the current (as indicated by Dst) decays. Flux enhancements in early recovery phase are greatest for equatorially mirroring electrons, and to pitch-angle anisotropies are initially large. Subsequent pitch-angle diffusion broadens the flux enhancement to particles that mirror off equator, thus gradually increasing low-altitude electron intensities (as detected by HEPS/UARS) on time scales equal to about 20% of corresponding lifetimes against diffusion into the loss cone. Alternative interpretations will also be examined.
Time histories and energy spectra of interplanetary relativistic electrons from solar flares
Relativistic electron motion in constant magnetic field noting electron anomalous magnetic moment, nonlinear Lagrangian for electromagnetic field and spontaneous pair production
Inverse velocity dispersion of relativistic electron intensity in interplanetary medium after solar flare
We conduct a statistical study on the sudden response of outer radiation belt electrons due to interplanetary (IP) shocks during the Van Allen Probes era, i.e., 2012 to 2015. Data from the Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope instrument on board Van Allen Probes are used to investigate the highly relativistic electron response (E greater than 1.8 MeV) within the first few minutes after shock impact. We investigate the relationship of IP shock parameters, such as Mach number, with the highly relativistic electron response, including spectral properties and radial location of the shock-induced injection. We find that the driving solar wind structure of the shock does not affect occurrence for enhancement events, 25% of IP shocks are associated with prompt energization, and 14% are associated with MeV electron depletion. Parameters that represent IP shock strength are found to correlate best with highest levels of energization, suggesting that shock strength may play a key role in the severity of the enhancements. However, not every shock results in an enhancement, indicating that magnetospheric preconditioning may be required.
Evaluation of gamma-ray spectra calculated for relativistic-electron bremsstrahlung interactions at cosmological distances under the assumption of a single power-law source spectrum for the electrons. It is concluded that such spectra cannot match the form of the observed cosmic gamma-ray spectrum above 1 MeV, as has previously been suggested.
We developed a new prediction model for forecasting relativistic (>2MeV) electrons, which provides a VERY HIGH correlation between predicted and actually measured electron fluxes at geostationary orbit. This model implies the multi-step particle acceleration and is based on numerical integrating two linked continuity equations for primarily accelerated particles and relativistic electrons. The model includes a source and losses, and used solar wind data as only input parameters. We used the coupling function which is a best-fit combination of solar wind/Interplanetary Magnetic Field parameters, responsible for the generation of geomagnetic activity, as a source. The loss function was derived from experimental data. We tested the model for four year period 2004-2007. The correlation coefficient between predicted and actual values of the electron fluxes for whole four year period as well as for each of these years is about 0.9. The high and stable correlation between the computed and actual electron fluxes shows that the reliable forecasting these electrons at geostationary orbit is possible. The correlation coefficient between predicted and actual electron fluxes is stable and incredibly high.
Pinched plasma reversed current induction due to relativistic electron beam injection
Characteristics of relativistic electron precipitation bursts observed by the Heavy Ion Large Telescope (HILT) experiment onboard the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Partical Explorer (SAMPEX) satellite were examined. Relatively narrow, persitent, latitudinal bands of precipitation with time scales of 10 to approximately 30 sec near the outer edge of the radiation belt which develop and decay with a time scale of a few hours are reported. Acceleration processes more effective than the usual radial diffusion process or scattering process would be needed to explain this strong precipitation band phenomenon. Another prominent signature is microbursts with a time scale down to a few hundred milliseconds. It is suggested that these microbursts are due to wave-particle interaction involving a relaxation-oscillator type of mechanism.
Highly relativistic electron events (HREs) are periods of intense, long-lived, energetic electron fluxes in the outer radiation zone. We are using measurements from the High Energy Particle Spectrometer (HEPS) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) to develop a database of the pitch-angle and energy-resolved electron fluxes with energies between 30 keV and 4.5 MeV. The data acquired by HEPS have overlapped the declining phase of solar cycle 22 making these data very important, since HREs are thought to peak in frequency and intensity during this phase of the solar cycle. We find a consistent scenario of electrons being injected into the radiation belts by a magnetic storm (deduced from Dst) and being slowly accelerated to ever higher energies over days to weeks. The energy dependence of the flux is an essential part of the analysis. Above 300 keV the most energetic electrons are the last to appear and the slowest to fade following an injection event.
The temporal evolution of the ionospheric density enhancement produced by a widespread relativistic electron precipitation (REP) has been observed with the Chatanika Radar. The REP was associated with a substorm particle energization event, and both the ionospheric absorption and density perturbation exhibited an approximately 90 min periodicity associated with the particles' longitudinal drift. A 80-keV characteristic energy for the precipitating electrons is deduced from ground-based and satellite data. At the maximum of the event, electrons deposited approximately 50 ergs/sq cm per sec in the ionosphere, producing a peak density of 500,000/cu cm at 89 km altitude. At that time the radar observed densities greater than 100,000/cu cm between 70 km and 110 km altitude and riometer absorption at 30 MHz was approximately 12 db.
We consider the effect of oblique EMIC waves on relativistic electron scattering in the outer radiation belt using simultaneous observations of plasma and wave parameters from CRRES. The main findings can be s ummarized as follows: 1. In 1comparison with field-aligned waves, int ermediate and highly oblique distributions decrease the range of pitc h-angles subject to diffusion, and reduce the local scattering rate b y an order of magnitude at pitch-angles where the principle absolute value of n = 1 resonances operate. Oblique waves allow the absolute va lue of n > 1 resonances to operate, extending the range of local pitc h-angle diffusion down to the loss cone, and increasing the diffusion at lower pitch angles by orders of magnitude; 2. The local diffusion coefficients derived from CRRES data are qualitatively similar to the local results obtained for prescribed plasma/wave parameters. Conseq uently, it is likely that the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients, if estimated from concurrent data, will exhibit the dependencies similar to those we found for model calculations; 3. In comparison with f ield-aligned waves, intermediate and highly oblique waves decrease th e bounce-averaged scattering rate near the edge of the equatorial lo ss cone by orders of magnitude if the electron energy does not excee d a threshold (approximately equal to 2 - 5 MeV) depending on specified plasma and/or wave parameters; 4. For greater electron energies_ ob lique waves operating the absolute value of n > 1 resonances are more effective and provide the same bounce_averaged diffusion rate near the loss cone as fiel_aligned waves do.
Relativisitic electron precipitation (REP) events occur when beams or bunches of relativistic electrons of magnetospheric origin enter the Earth's atmosphere, typically at auroral latitudes. REP events are associated with a variety of space weather effects, including production of transitional and bremsstrahlung radiation, catalytic depletion of stratospheric ozone, and scintillation of transionospheric radio waves. This study examines the intensities of x‐rays produced at airliner, manned balloon, and space reuseable launch vehicles (sRLVs). The monoenergetic beam is modeled in cylindrical symetry using the paraxial ray equation. Bremsstrahlung photon production is calculated using the traditional Sauter‐Elwert cross‐section, providing x‐ray emission spectra differential in energy and angle. Attenuation is computed for a plane‐stratified standard atmosphere, and the loss processes include photoionization, Rayleigh and Compton scattering, electron‐positron pair production, and photonuclear interaction. Peak altitudes of electron energy deposition and bremsstrahlung x‐ray production were calculated for beams of energies from 1 MeV through 100 MeV. The altitude peak of bremsstrahlung deposition was consistently and significantly lower that that of the electron deposition due to the longer mean free paths of x‐rays compared to electrons within the atmosphere. For example, for a nadir‐directed monoenergetic 5 MeV beam, the peak deposition altitude was calculated to be 42 km, but the resulting bremsstrahlung deposition peaked at 25 km. This has implications for crew and passenger safety, especially with the growth of the space tourism industry. A survey of results covering the 1‐100 MeV spectrum for the three altitude ranges of interest will be presented.
The path-integrated gain of parallel propagating whistlers driven unstable by an anisotropic distribution of relativistic electrons in the stable trapping region of Jupiter's inner magnetosphere was computed. The requirement that a gain of 3 e-foldings of power balance the power lost by imperfect reflection along the flux tube sets a stably-trapped flux of electrons which is close to the non-relativistic result. Comparison with measurements shows that observed fluxes are near the stably-trapped limit, which suggests that whistler wave intensities may be high enough to cause significant diffusion of electrons accounting for the observed reduction of phase space densities. A crude estimate of the wave intensity necessary to diffuse electrons on a radial diffusion time scale yields a lower limit for the magnetic field fluctuation intensity.
The paper examines some of the consequences of relativistic electrons in stably trapped equilibrium with parallel propagating whistlers in the inner magnetosphere of Jupiter. Approximate scaling laws for the stably trapped electron flux and equilibrium wave intensity are derived, and the equatorial growth rate for whistlers is determined. It is shown that fluxes are near the stably trapped limit, which suggests that whistler intensities may be high enough to cause significant diffusion of electrons, accounting for the observed reduction of phase space densities.