Selective Acceleration of O+ by Drift‐Bounce Resonance in the Earth's Magnetosphere: MMS Observations

Abstract

AbstractWe studied O+ drift‐bounce resonance using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) data. A case study of an event on 17 February 2016 shows that O+ flux oscillations at ~10–30 keV occurred at MLT ~ 5 hr and L ~ 8–9 during a storm recovery phase. These flux oscillations were accompanied by a toroidal Pc5 wave and a high‐speed solar wind (~550 km/s). The azimuthal wave number (m‐number) of this Pc5 wave was found to be approximately −2. The O+/H+ flux ratio was enhanced at ~10–30 keV corresponding to the O+ flux oscillations without any clear variations of H+ fluxes, indicating the selective acceleration of O+ ions by the drift‐bounce resonance. A search for similar events in the time period from September 2015 to March 2017 yielded 12 events. These events were mainly observed in the dawn to the afternoon region at L ~ 7–12 when the solar wind speed is high, and all of them were simultaneously identified on the ground, indicating low m‐number. Correlation analysis revealed that the O+/H+ energy density ratio has the highest correlation coefficient with peak power of the electric field in the azimuthal component (Ea). This statistical result supports the selective acceleration of O+ due to the N = 2 drift‐bounce resonance.