Abstract
A plasma wave propagating across a field-aligned sheet with a steep density gradient is considered. The wave may be modified inside the sheet in such way that a strong electric field appears parallel to the unperturbed magnetic field. This field component may deliver energy to ‘hot’ particles at a rate comparable to or even much higher than the maximum possible rate of energy exchange between waves and particles in a uniform plasma due to the cyclotron instability mechanism. It is suggested that this energization of particles in the regions of abrupt change of the plasma density (such as the plasmapause or the ducts of whistler mode waves) might be responsible for discrete spatially limited events of auroral precipitation.
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