Numerical simulation of resonant scattering of energetic electrons in the outer radiation belt

Abstract

Abstract Resonant diffusion processes of high energy electrons are studied numerically by using an original simulation scheme where cold electrons are treated as a fluid and hot electrons are treated as particles including fully relativistic effects. The present simulation scheme enables us to investigate the resonant scattering process in the inner magnetosphere, which has been difficult to study by using the PIC code. We investigated the variation of the distribution of electrons through the resonant diffusion process by comparing the present numerical experiment and the quasi-linear theory under the same condition of the interaction between whistler-mode waves and high energy electrons. The difference between their results suggests the importance of the verification of the theory under the realistic plasma condition corresponding to the observed parameters in the outer radiation belt.