Combined Effects of Equatorial Chorus Waves and High‐Latitude Z‐Mode Waves on Saturn's Radiation Belt Electrons

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper, we examined the combined effects of equatorial chorus waves and high‐latitude Z‐mode waves on the energy and pitch angle distribution of Saturn's radiation belt electrons. Our simulation results show that these two types of waves at different latitudes jointly control the fluxes of Saturn's radiation belt electrons, which is very different from the individual effects of each kind of waves. The presence of Z‐mode waves can efficiently inhibit the reversed energy spectrum of electrons driven by chorus waves, whereas the presence of chorus waves can further accelerate and scatter the relativistic electrons accelerated by Z‐mode waves toward the larger and smaller pitch angles. Our findings provide a new insight on how different types of waves at different latitudes jointly affect the radiation belt electron dynamics, including, but not limited to, Saturn.