On the Role of Solar Wind Discontinuities in the ULF Power Spectral Density at the Earth's Outer Radiation Belt: a Case Study

The solar wind incident upon the Earth's magnetosphere can produce either enhancement, depletion or no change in the flux of relativistic electrons at the outer radiation belt. During geomagnetic storms progress, solar wind parameters may change significantly, and occasionally relativistic electron fluxes at the outer radiation belt show dropouts in a range of energy and L-shells. Wave-particle interactions observed within the Van Allen belts have been claimed to play a significant role in energetic particle flux changes. The relation between changes on the solar wind parameters and the radiation belt is still a hot topic nowadays, particularly the role played by the solar wind on sudden electron flux decreases. The twin satellite Van Allen Probes measured a relativistic electron flux dropout concurrent to broad band Ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves, i.e. from 1 mHz to 10 Hz, on October 2, 2013. Magnetic field and plasma data from both ACE and WIND satellites allowed the characterization of this event as being an interplanetary coronal mass ejection in conjunction with shock. The interaction of this event with the Earth's magnetosphere was modeled using a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation and the magnetic field perturbation deep in magnetosphere could be analyzed from the model outputs. Results show the contribution of time-varying solar wind parameters to the generation of ULF waves. The power spectral densities, as a function of L-shell, were evaluated considering changes in the input parameters, e.g. magnitude and duration of dynamic pressure and magnetic field. The modeled power spectral densities are compared with Van Allen Probes data. The results provide us a clue on the solar wind characteristics that might be able to drive ULF waves in the inner magnetosphere, and also which wave modes are expected to be excited under a specific solar wind driving.