Potential waves for pitch-angle scattering of near-equatorially mirroring energetic electrons due to the violation of the second adiabatic invariant

Abstract

Bounce and MLT averaged diffusion rates due to gyroresonance scattering by plasmaspheric hiss, lightning generated whistlers, and whistlers due to VLF transmitters inside the plasmasphere; and chorus waves outside the plasmasphere; are computed in high resolution in pitch-angle. The computed rates show that another scattering mechanism is required to provide pitch-angle scatting for nearly equatorially mirroring particles at low energies outside the plasmasphere and at a wide range of energies in the slot region. We show that magnetosonic waves and EIectroMagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves can be in bounce resonance with electrons for a wide range of energies and pitch-angles, and may be responsible for the scattering of electrons with equatorial pitch-angels close to 90°. Bounce resonance may also result in an in-situ acceleration of equatorially mirroring particles. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.