Particle Transport and Energization Associated with Disturbed Magnetospheric Events

Abstract

Energetic particle flux enhancement events observed by satellites during strongly disturbed events in the magnetosphere (e.g., substorms, storm sudden commencements, etc.) are studied by considering interaction of particles with Earthward propagating electromagnetic pulses of westward electric field and consistent magnetic field of localized radial and azimuthal extent in a background magnetic field. The energetic particle flux enhancement is mainly due to the betatron acceleration process: particles are swept by the Earthward propagating electric field pulses via the E × B drift toward the Earth to higher magnetic field locations and are energized because of magnetic moment conservation. The most energized particles are those which stay in the pulse for the longest time and are swept the longest radial distance toward the Earth. Assuming a constant propagating velocity of the pulse we obtain analytical solutions of particle orbits. We examine substorm energetic particle injection by computing the particle flux and comparing with geosynchronous satellite observations. Our results show that for pulse parameters leading to consistency with observed flux values, the bulk of the injected particles arrive from distances less than 9 R E , which is closer to the Earth than the values obtained by the previous model [1] and is also closer to the distances obtained by the injection boundary model.