[1] Observations of the relativistic electron flux increases during the first days of November, 2003 are compared to model simulations of two leading mechanisms for electron acceleration. It is demonstrated that radial diffusion driven by ULF waves cannot explain the formation of the new radiation belt in the slot region and instead predicts a decay of fluxes during the recovery phase of the October 31st storm. Compression of the plasmasphere during the main phases of the storm created preferential conditions for local acceleration during interactions with VLF chorus. Local acceleration of electrons at L = 3 is modelled with a 2-D pitch-angle, energy diffusion code. We show that the energy diffusion driven by whistler mode waves can explain the gradual build up of fluxes to energies exceeding 3 MeV in a new radiation belt which is formed in the slot region normally devoid of high energy electrons. Citation: Shprits, Y. Y., R. M.

[1] A newly developed semi-automated routine to identify small-scale symmetric force-free flux ropes in the solar wind was used to search 11 years (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005) of WIND magnetic field data. We identified 68 flux ropes whose durations range from 39 minutes up to 12.2 hours, with the distribution strongly peaked at an hour or less. These small-scale flux ropes have strong core field signatures in total magnetic field coincident with bipolar field inflection consistent with a cylindrically symmetric flux rope model. They are predominately observed in the slow and moderate solar wind (<500 km s À1 ). They are observed to have a solar cycle occurrence variation with most small-scale flux rope events found during solar minimum. This database of small-scale flux ropes is compared to previously published small-scale flux rope surveys and interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME)/magnetic cloud databases. The size distribution of flux ropes in the solar wind appears to be bimodal, with the majority of events having durations 4 hours or less where the magnetic cloud distribution peaks between 12 and 16 hours. The results suggest different source mechanisms for small and large-scale flux ropes.

[1] We present results from the first comprehensive small-scale flux rope survey between 0.3 and 5.5 AU using the Helios 1, Helios 2, IMP 8, Wind, ACE, and Ulysses spacecrafts to examine their occurrence rate, properties, and evolution. Small-scale flux ropes are similar to magnetic clouds and can be modeled as a constant-alpha, force-free, cylindrically symmetric flux rope. They differ from magnetic clouds in that they have durations on the order of tens of minutes up to a few hours, they lack an expansion signature at 1 AU, and they do not have a depressed proton temperature compared to the surrounding solar wind plasma. The occurrence rate of small-scale flux ropes is slightly higher in the inner heliosphere than the outer heliosphere and has a weak dependence on the phase of the solar cycle. The duration of the events as a function of radial distance indicates there is a large, rapid expansion within 1 AU and it becomes constant in the outer heliosphere. This behavior implies small-scale flux ropes are created and nearly complete their evolution within 1 AU.Citation: Cartwright, M. L., and M. B. Moldwin (2010), Heliospheric evolution of solar wind small-scale magnetic flux ropes,

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