Precipitation of ions induced by magnetotail collapse

Abstract

The precipitation of ions triggered by dipolarization of magnetospheric field lines during substorm expansion phase is examined by means of single‐particle codes. As large but short‐lived electric fields develop and particles experience transient nonadiabatic motions, it is demonstrated that “de‐trapping” of inner plasma sheet populations can be achieved either via damping of magnetic moment or impulsive accelerations in the parallel direction. It is shown that the former precipitation mechanism results from phasing between gyromotion and the surging electric field. It preferentially affects heavy and low‐charge state ions which can display large de‐energization rates within a cyclotron period. The latter mechanism rather favors the loss of lighter and/or higher‐charge state ions which are less sensitive to temporal nonadiabaticity. In this case, injection into the loss cone may result from enhanced curvature related acceleration. As this latter acceleration occurs on the dipolarization time scale, it affects a limited amount of plasma sheet populations, namely those intercepting the region of maximum curvature at the time of peak induced electric field.