Substorm Injection Electron Flux

One of the main questions concerning radiation belt research is the origin of radiation belt particles. Under the hypothesis that the plasma sheet electron population is the source of radiation belt electrons which are convected to the outer radiation belt region during substorms, we estimate the flux of particles generated at geosynchronous orbit. These electrons then serve as a source population for other energization mechanisms which accelerate the electrons to Mev and greater energies (i.e. killer electrons). The model fields are based on the Li et al. substorm particle injection model {[1]}. The flux is computed using the Hamiltonian guiding center equations in which the phase space density is conserved.

{[1]} Li, X., D. N. Baker, M. Temerin, G. Reeves, R. Belian, Simulation of Dispersionless Injections and Drift Echoes of Energetic Electrons Associated with Substorms? Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3763, 1998.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant ATM-0229863.