Prompt extinction of bump-on-tail energy spectra for radiation belt electron phase space density

Abstract

The bump-on-tail electron flux energy spectral distributions in the Earth's radiation belt are widely observed and have been proven to be generated by plasmaspheric hiss-led wave–particle interactions. Here, we report and discuss the prompt disappearance of them induced by the high solar wind dynamic pressure (Pdyn) combined with substorms on 12–13 March 2014. To remove the potential adiabatic influence, the electron fluxes are all converted to phase space density in the TS04 geomagnetic coordinate. Immediately after the Pdyn reached its maximum accompanied by the intensifying of substorms, the initial bump-on-tail spectra of the phase space density at L* (the third adiabatic invariant) from 3.8 to 4.4 were destroyed and rapidly smoothed to the exponential distributions, with a distinct ascent for lower energy electrons and a sharp decline for higher energy electrons. The balance line between the source and loss processes was located at μ = 50–200 MeV/G (μ is the first adiabatic invariant), which is sensitive to the spatial location. Further investigation of the temporal evolution of the phase space density along with L* and the plasma wave distributions provided evidence that the loss processes dominated at higher L* for electrons at μ ≳ 100 MeV/G, while the source processes became stronger at lower L* for electrons at μ ≲ 10 MeV/G. Our study provides new insight into the rapid change of the radiation belt electron spectral types in response to solar wind disturbances, which could be fully considered in further radiation belt particle modeling.