Observations of loss cone–shaped back streaming energetic protons upstream of the Earth's bow shock

doi:doi:10.1029/2009JA014136

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Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 114, A11106, 14 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2009JA014136

Observations of loss cone–shaped back streaming energetic protons upstream of the Earth's bow shock

Y. Seki

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

M. N. Nishino

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

M. Fujimoto

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

Y. Miyashita

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

K. Keika

Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria

Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA

H. Hasegawa

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

K. Okabe

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Y. Kasaba

Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

T. Terasawa

Interactive Research Center of Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

T. I. Yamamoto

Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

I. Shinohara

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

Y. Saito

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Japan

T. Mukai

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tokyo, Japan

Energetic ions are at times observed in the upstream region of the Earth's bow shock, and their origin is considered to be in the interaction with the shock front. While the energy of the solar wind ions is a few keV at most, the energy of the back streaming ions ranges from ∼5 keV to several MeV. In the present study we investigate back streaming energetic ions in the upstream of the Earth's bow shock observed by Geotail during two coronal mass ejection events. The observed local magnetic field rotated significantly during the events. Using the bow shock model and the observed magnetic field data, we found that the energetic ions appeared only when the upstream magnetic field was connected to the bow shock. The energetic ions showed two distinct distribution function characteristics, namely, the field-aligned beam (FAB) and the loss cone–shaped distribution. While the former is occasionally detected, the latter having higher energies (30 keV to several hundred keV, compared to <18 keV for FAB) has not been reported before. Using a bow shock model, we can also estimate the shock angle at the point on the shock surface that the upstream field line is connected to and find that the distribution function shape transits from the FAB to the loss cone–shaped distribution as the shock angle becomes larger (transition at Θ_Bn = 70°–80°). We discuss the possible mechanisms responsible for the production of the newly found member of the energetic upstream ion family.

Received 6 February 2009; accepted 30 June 2009; published 21 November 2009.

Citation: Seki, Y., et al. (2009), Observations of loss cone–shaped back streaming energetic protons upstream of the Earth's bow shock, J. Geophys. Res., 114, A11106, doi:10.1029/2009JA014136.

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