Electron Acceleration, Transport and Loss in Planetary Radiation Belts

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How electrons are accelerated and lost inside planetary and astrophysical magnetic fields are major unresolved questions. At Earth there has been a major advance: that intense electromagnetic waves at frequencies of a few kiloHertz can accelerate electrons up to relativistic energies via cyclotron resonant wave-particle interactions. This result has transformed generally accepted ideas on the Earth's radiation belts that have lasted 40 years or more, and has spurred new satellite missions such as NASA's Van Allen Probes mission and the Japanese ERG mission to test this and related ideas. Intense electromagnetic waves are also observed inside the magnetic fields of Jupiter and Saturn which suggests that the same resonant acceleration and loss processes that occur at Earth could be important for all planetary radiation belts. The goal of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that cyclotron resonant wave-particle interactions are major electron acceleration and loss processes at Earth, Jupiter and Saturn, and play a major role in the formation of radiation belts at these planets. The results of our research will help determine whether electron cyclotron resonant acceleration and loss processes are universal processes that are more widely applicable to the Sun and other astrophysical objects. It will help set new research goals for future spacecraft missions to the planets, provide research training for young scientists, develop computer models for space weather that will be of direct use to the space insurance, satellite construction, and satellite service industries, and leave a legacy of understanding that will last long after the completion of the project.