Study on electron stochastic motions in the magnetosonic wave field: Test particle simulations
磁声波场中电子随机运动的研究：测试粒子模拟
磁気音波場における電子確率運動に関する研究：試験粒子シミュレーション
자기음파장에서의 전자확률적 운동에 관한 연구: 시험입자 시뮬레이션
Estudio de movimientos estocásticos de electrones en el campo de ondas magnetosónicas: simulaciones de partículas de prueba
Etude des mouvements stochastiques des électrons dans le champ d'ondes magnétosoniques : simulations de particules d'essai
Исследование стохастических движений электронов в поле магнитозвуковой волны: моделирование пробных частиц
Kai Fan 樊凯 ¹ ², XinLiang Gao 高新亮 ¹ ², QuanMing Lu 陆全明 ¹ ², Shui Wang 王水 ¹ ²
¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
中国 合肥 中国科学技术大学地球物理与行星科学系 中国科学院近地空间环境重点实验室
² CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei 230026, China
中国 合肥 中国科学院比较行星学卓越创新中心
Using the test particle simulation method, we investigate the stochastic motion of electrons with energy of 300 keV in a monochromatic magnetosonic (MS) wave field. This study is motivated by the violation of the quasi-linear theory assumption, when strong MS waves (amplitude up to ~1 nT) are present in the Earth’s magnetosphere.
First, electron motion can become stochastic when the wave amplitude exceeds a certain threshold. If an electron initially resonates with the MS wave via bounce resonance, as the bounce resonance order increases, the amplitude threshold of electron stochastic motion increases until it reaches the peak at about the 11th order in our study, then the amplitude threshold slowly declines. Further, we find that the coexistence of bounce and Landau resonances between electrons and MS waves will significantly reduce the amplitude threshold. In some cases, the electron motion can become stochastic in the field of an MS wave with amplitudes below 1 nT.
Regardless, if neither the bounce nor Landau resonance condition is satisfied initially, then the amplitude threshold of stochastic motion shows an increasing trend for lower frequencies and a decreasing trend for higher frequencies, even though the amplitude threshold is always very large (> 5 nT). Our study suggests that electron stochastic motion should also be considered when modeling electron dynamics regulated by intense MS waves in the Earth’s magnetosphere.
