Loss of ring current O+ ions due to interaction with Pc 5 waves

Abstract

The behavior of ring current ions in low‐frequency geomagnetic pulsations is investigated analytically and numerically. We focus primarily on ring current O+ ions, whose flux increases dramatically during geomagnetic storms and decays at a rate which is not fully explained by collisional processes. This paper presents a new loss mechanism for the O+ ions due to the combined effects of convection and corotation electric fields and interaction with Pc 5 waves (wave period: 150–600 s) via a magnetic drift‐bounce resonance. A test particle code has been developed to calculate the motion of the ring current O+ ions in a time‐independent dipole magnetic field, and convection and corotation electric fields, plus Pc 5 wave fields, for which a simple analytical model has been formulated based on spacecraft observations. For given fields, whether a particle gains or loses energy depends on its initial kinetic energy, pitch angle at the equatorial plane, and the position of its guiding center with respect to the azimuthal phase of the wave. The ring current O+ ions show a dispersion in energies and L values with decreasing local time across the day side, and a bulk shift to lower energies and higher L values. The former is due to the wave‐particle interaction causing the ion to gain or lose energy, while the latter is due to the convection electric field. Our simulations show that, due to interaction with the Pc 5 waves, the particle's kinetic energy can drop below that required to overcome the convection potential and the particle will be lost to the dayside magnetopause by a sunward E × B drift. This may contribute to the loss of O+ ions at intermediate energies (tens of keV) observed during the recovery phase of geomagnetic storms.