AGS-PRF: Probing the Relationship Between Radiation Belt Electron Precipitation and Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) Waves

就像在海洋和大气中一样，波也存在于空间等离子体中。 在这些等离子体中，带电粒子之间的碰撞很少，能量可以从等离子体波转移到带电粒子（类似于海浪上的冲浪者）。 因此，等离子体波是将能量从一个带电粒子群转移到另一个带电粒子群的主要手段，并且用于将一小部分带电粒子群激励到非常高的能量。 等离子体波有许多类型。微观物理学告诉我们，等离子体波，称为电磁离子回旋波（EMIC），能够将以前被困在辐射带中的电子散射到大气中，在那里它们丢失了。 然而，EMIC波对辐射带全球变化的相对重要性在过去50年里一直是激烈的科学辩论的主题。研究的主要目标是通过将空间粒子和场的多点共轭测量与电子沉淀相结合来解决这一争论。 最近，货车艾伦探测器和BARREL气球飞行任务扩大了进行这些测量的能力。 这笔赠款将支持一名有前途的女性早期职业科学家的进一步培训和发展。由此产生的相对论性电子沉淀全球图将有助于更广泛的空间物理学和高空大气学界、研究中层大气化学的研究人员以及空间环境应用，如空间自然辐射和人工辐射的主动减缓技术。所采用的方法是绘制空间等离子体和波场的大比例地图以及从高地球轨道和低地球轨道的多颗卫星沉淀到大气层中的高能电子的相关地图。 争论的焦点是辐射带电子在辐射带中沿着沿着封闭的漂移路径移动时，实际上穿过EMIC波所占据的区域有多长。 它们与EMIC波相互作用的时间越长，它们就越有可能从封闭的漂移路径中散射出来并丢失。 如果波只存在于辐射带中稀疏分布的有限区域，或者快速开启和关闭，它们的累积效应可能微不足道。 比较这些图不仅提供了关于等离子体波的全球分布的信息，而且还提供了关于映射的量之间的关系是否与EMIC波一致的信息。 即使这些图与EMIC波与高能粒子和冷等离子体的相互作用不一致，它们也为其他机制提供了线索，并对其进行了限制。

Just as in the ocean and the atmosphere, waves exist in space plasmas. In these plasmas, where collisions between charged particles are rare, energy can be transferred to a charged particle from a plasma wave (analogous to a surfer on an ocean wave). As a result, plasma waves are a major means of transferring energy from one charged particle population to another, and for energizing a small portion of the population to very high energies. There are many types of plasma waves. Microphysics tells us that plasma waves, called electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves (EMIC), are able to scatter electrons formerly trapped in the radiation belts into the atmosphere where they are lost. However, the relative importance of EMIC waves to the global variability of the radiation belts has been a subject of intense scientific debate for the past 50 years. The main goal of the research is to resolve this debate by combining multi-point conjugate measurements of particles and fields in space with electron precipitation. The capability for making these measurements was recently expanded by the Van Allen Probes and BARREL balloons missions. The grant will support the further training and development of a promising female early-career scientist. The resulting global maps of relativistic electron precipitation will be useful to the broader space physics and aeronomy communities, to researchers studying the chemistry of the middle atmosphere, and for space environment applications, such as active mitigation techniques for both natural and artificial radiation in space.To address the open questions raised above, the methodology is to construct large-scale maps of plasma and wave fields in space and correlated maps of high-energy electrons precipitating into the atmosphere from multiple satellites both at high- and low-Earth orbit. At issue is how long radiation belt electrons actually travel through regions occupied by EMIC waves as they move along closed drift path in the radiation belts. The longer they interact with the EMIC waves the more likely they will be scattered out of their closed drift paths and be lost. If the waves exist only in limited regions that are sparsely distributed throughout the radiation belts, or turn on and off rapidly, their cumulative effects may be insignificant. Comparing these maps not only provides information about the global distribution of plasma waves but also about whether the relationships between the mapped quantities are consistent with EMIC waves. Even if these maps are not consistent with EMIC wave interactions with the energetic particles and cold plasmas, they provide clues to, and place constraints on, other mechanisms..