HR: 1330h
AN: SM43B-09    [Abstracts]
TI: A Numerical Study of the Injection of Relativistic Electrons into the Radiation Belts During the 29-31 Oct 2003 (Haloween) Geomagnetic Storm.
AU: * Kress, B T
EM: bkress@northstar.dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755-3528 United States
AU: Hudson, M K
EM: maryk@gaia.dartmouth.edu
AF: Dartmouth College, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH 03755-3528 United States
AB: We numerically investigate the injection of relativistic electrons into the radiation belts during the 29-31 OCT 2003 (Haloween) geomagnetic storm. Test particle Lorentz trajectories are computed in fields from a Lyon-Feder-Mobarry (LFM) global MHD simulation of the Haloween storm using measured solar wind parameters to study the role of non-adiabatic effects on magnetospheric entry and trapping of 10-20 MeV electrons. A relativistic gamma factor ~20-40 for these ultrarelativistic electrons means that their gyro-radii approach the scale lengths of magnetic field gradients in the outer radiation belts, suggesting that a generalization of Störmer theory to time dependent fields may provide a mechanism for the injection and trapping of relativistic electrons, as has previously been shown for solar energetic ions (Kress et al. Fall AGU 2004).
DE: 2720 Energetic particles, trapped
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly