Energetic electrons in the exterior cusp and along the high latitude magnetopause

Energetic electrons have been observed within the diamagnetic exterior cusp as well as along the high latitude magnetopause and extending down the magnetotail. Within the depressed magnetic field of the exterior cusp, electrons have been shown to be dynamically trapped with a pitch angle near 90 degrees. Bursts of energetic electrons lasting several minutes are also observed with either counter streaming beams or simply flows out of the cusp. The nature of energetic electrons in the exterior cusp is analyzed in this study through their spectra and pitch angle distributions. Observations from Cluster are compared with a three-dimensional single particle tracing code to study the properties and potential origin of these electrons.