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Electron acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail: test particle calculations in electromagnetic fields from two-dimensional hybrid simulations

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Abstract

Electron acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail during the substorm period is still an unresolved question. In this paper, by tracing electron trajectories in the dynamically evolving electromagnetic fields obtained from a two-dimensional (2D) global hybrid simulation, we investigate electron acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail during dipolarization. In our simulation, electrons with energies above several keV can gain energy in the plasma sheet due to the adiabatic acceleration mechanism when these electrons propagate earthward. In the near-Earth magnetotail (about 9–15 \(R_{E}\) from the Earth), these electrons can be accelerated by betatron acceleration which is due to the compression of magnetic field associated with dipolarization of magnetotail. Additionally, in the middle and high latitudes of the near-Earth magnetotail, the parallel electric field carrying by kinetic Alfvén waves can also accelerate electrons when these electrons bounce between the mirror points. The combination effects of these three acceleration mechanisms can accelerate electrons from several keV to about one hundred keV. Our results indicate that both the large-scale structure and wave-particle interactions need to be taken into account for electron acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB845903 and 2012CB825604), the National Science Foundation of China (41590851, 41674168, 41374171 and 41404129), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41504057), and the National Key Basic Research Program of China (41574162). The results in this paper are generated from our computer simulation code as described in Sect. 2. The data can be obtained by contacting the authors through email (guozf@mail.iggcas.ac.cn). We thank Prof. Yu Lin and Prof. Quanming Lu for their fruitful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, China

    Zhifang Guo & Aimin Du

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Mingyu Wu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, China

    Zhifang Guo

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Astronautical Science and Technology, Harbin, China

    Mingyu Wu

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  1. Zhifang Guo
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Correspondence to Zhifang Guo.

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Guo, Z., Wu, M. & Du, A. Electron acceleration in the near-Earth magnetotail: test particle calculations in electromagnetic fields from two-dimensional hybrid simulations. Astrophys Space Sci 362, 119 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-017-3093-0

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