Electron trapping and acceleration by kinetic Alfven waves in the inner magnetosphere

Abstract

In this paper we study the interaction of kinetic Alfven waves generated near the equatorial plane of the magnetosphere with electrons having initial energies up to ∼100 eV. Wave-particle interactions are investigated using a theoretical model of trapping into an effective potential generated by the wave parallel electric field and the mirror force acting along geomagnetic field lines. It is demonstrated that waves with an effective potential amplitude on the order of ∼100-400 V and with perpendicular wavelengths on the order of the ion gyroradius can trap and efficiently accelerate electrons up to energies of several keV. Trapping acceleration corresponds to conservation of the electron magnetic moment and, thus, results in a significant decrease of the electron equatorial pitch angle with time. Analytical and numerical estimates of the maximum energy and probability of trapping are presented, and the application of the proposed model is discussed.