Test Particle Simulations of Interaction Between Monochromatic Chorus Waves and Radiation Belt Relativistic Electrons

Abstract

Chorus waves have been suggested to be effective in acceleration of radiation belt electrons. Here we perform gyro-averaged test-particle simulations to calculate the bounce-averaged pitch angle and energy diffusion coefficients for parallel-propagating monochromatic chorus waves, and perform a comparison of test-particle (TP) model with quasi-linear (QL) theory to evaluate the influence of nonlinear processes. For small amplitude chorus waves, the diffusion coefficients of TP and QL models are in good agreement. As the wave amplitude reaches a threshold value, two nonlinear processes (phase trapping and phase bunching) start to occur, especially at large equatorial pitch angles. Phase trapping yields rapid increases in pitch angle and kinetic energy. In contrast, phase bunching causes overall decreases in pitch angle and kinetic energy. For the waves with amplitudes slightly above the threshold value, the average behavior is dominated by the phase trapping, and TP diffusion coefficients are larger than QL ones. As wave amplitude increases, TP diffusion coefficients become smaller than QL ones, indicating that phase trapping gradually reduces the dominance over phase bunching.