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Evidence for surprathermal electron burst intensification due to inverted-V precipitation
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  • Connor Feltman,
  • Gregory Gershom Howes,
  • Scott Randolph Bounds,
  • David Michael Miles,
  • Craig Kletzing,
  • Kenton Greene,
  • Robert M. Broadfoot,
  • John W. Bonnell,
  • Roger A. Roglans
Connor Feltman
University of Iowa

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Gregory Gershom Howes
University of Iowa
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Scott Randolph Bounds
University of Iowa
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David Michael Miles
University of Iowa
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Craig Kletzing
University of Iowa
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Kenton Greene
University of Iowa
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Robert M. Broadfoot
University of Iowa
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John W. Bonnell
University of California, Berkeley
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Roger A. Roglans
Space Sciences Laboratory
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Abstract

The ACES-II sounding rocket mission launched two payloads from Andøya Rocket Range into a post-dusk discrete auroral arc and observed field-aligned electron dispersions near inverted-V precipitation. Five repetitive suprathermal electron bursts (STEBs) associated with low frequency (< 8 Hz) Earth-ward traveling Alfvén waves are observed at 400 km altitude. The electron bursts occur both coincident and outside inverted-V electrons, with those nearest to inverted-V precipitation displaying higher peak energy and differential flux values than events further away. We interpret the events as wave-particle acceleration via inertial Alfvén waves along near-Earth field lines and employ time-of-flight methods to gauge source altitudes. We show the differences in STEB behavior are better explained by changes in the resonant source population and not from significant variation in Alfvén wave parameters, a result that agrees with previous simulated predictions.
09 Aug 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
12 Aug 2024Published in ESS Open Archive