Effect of Chorus Latitudinal Distribution on Evolution of Outer Radiation Belt Electrons

Primary result on the impact of the latitudinal distribution of whistler-mode chorus upon temporal evolution of the phase space density (PSD) of outer radiation belt energetic electrons was presented. We evaluate diffusion rates in pitch angle and momentum due to a band of chorus frequency distributed at a standard Gaussian spectrum, and solve a 2-D bounce-averaged momentum-pitch-angle Fokker-Planck equation at L = 4.5. It is shown that chorus is effective in accelerating electrons and can increase PSD for energy of ∼ 1 MeV by a factor of 10 or more in about one day, which is consistent with observation. Moreover, the latitudinal distribution of chorus has a great impact on the acceleration of electrons. As the latitudinal distribution increases, the efficient acceleration region extends from higher pitch angles to lower pitch angles, and even covers the entire pitch angle region when chorus power reaches the maximum latitude λm = 45 deg. (astrophysics and space plasma)