Multidimensional Diffusion of Radiation Belt Electrons
J. M. Albert and S. L. Young,
Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L14110, doi:10.1029/2005GL023191, 2005
Abstract
We consider diffusion of outer zone radiation belt electrons
by chorus waves.
Quasi-linear calculations
valid outside the plasmasphere
have only been performed recently, and indicate that
the energy and cross-diffusion rates can be
comparable to that for pitch angle diffusion.
Proper solution of the diffusion equation for
phase space density must therefore be based on the full diffusion tensor,
but this has been plagued by
numerical problems associated with the
large and rapidly varying cross terms.
To circumvent this,
techniques are developed for transforming to variables in which
the cross diffusion term vanishes.
A model calculation shows significant diffusion of phase space density
at L=4.5 from 0.2 MeV up to a few MeV in less than a day.
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