Sustained Oxygen Spectral Gaps and Their Dynamic Evolution in the Inner Magnetosphere

Abstract

The inner magnetosphere is a highly dynamic region where multiple particle populations, including the cold plasmasphere, energetic ring current, and relativistic radiation belt particles coexist, overlap and often interact with each other (e.g.

L‐Value and Energy Dependence of 0.1–50 keV O+, He+, and H+ Ions for CME and CIR Storms Over the Entire Van Allen Probes Era

“…This is consistent with our results showing 𝐴𝐴 ⟨Δ𝑡𝑡⟩ 𝑂𝑂 + > 𝐴𝐴 ⟨Δ𝑡𝑡⟩ 𝐻𝐻 + (Figure 5). The role of loss processes at specific values of the magnetic moment (μ) for the O + ions is also addressed in the recent studies by Yue et al (2021), where they showed the reduced fluxes of O + ions to form gap structures. They postulated that O + ion gaps resulting at specific μ values are the consequence of low drift speed leading to significant losses via charge exchange, Coulomb collision, or wave-particle interactions.…”

MLT‐Dependence of Sustained Spectral Gaps of Proton and Oxygen in the Inner Magnetosphere

“…It is well known that when the eastward corotation and westward gradient-curvature drifts are comparable at some particular energies, so ions at those energies drift very slowly and undergo more pronounced loss and dissipation during their long residence time in the inner magnetosphere, which results in the spectral gaps in the ion energy-time spectrogram (Buzulukova et al, 2002;Kistler & Mouikis, 2016;Kistler et al, 1989;Yue et al, 2021).…”

Statistical study of “trunk-like” heavy ion structures in the inner magnetosphere

“…Simulation results show that the finger structures are formed by the eastward drift of low-energy ions from the magnetotail plasma sheet during the main phase of the magnetic storm. Yue C et al (2021a) carried out observational and simulation studies that clearly explain the formation of spectral gaps. They suggested that the formation of a sustained oxygen spectral gap strongly depends on the geomagnetic conditions before the observations.…”