VLF Transmitters and Lightning-Generated Whistlers: 2. Diffusion of Radiation Belt Electrons

摘要

abstract_textpIn a companion paper, new models of waves from ground-based very low frequency transmitters and from lightning were presented. Ray-and-power tracing provided wave amplitudes as well as trajectories and wave normal angles throughout the plasmasphere. Here, these are used to evaluate diffusion of radiation belt electrons. These are combined with recent models of hiss and Coulomb collisions to find lifetimes and particle distributions. Butterfly pitch angle distributions and near-megaelectron volt electrons are produced, confirming the role of energy diffusion. Coulomb energy drag, while often omitted, is also found to be important and should not be neglected./p/abstract_text