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IN LATE 2015 THE MAGNETOSPHERIC MULTISCALE (MMS) MISSION RESOLVED THE SHOCK TRANSITION LAYER DOWN TO THE ELECTRON-SCALE FOR THE FIRST TIME USING ITS UNPRECEDENTEDLY HIGH-TIME RESOLUTIONS OF PARTICLE MEASUREMENTS (BOTH IONS AND ELECTRONS) COMBINED WITH ALL THREE COMPONENTS OF MAGNETIC AND ELECTRIC FIELDS. SINCE THEN MMS HAS CROSSED THE BOW SHOCK NUMEROUS TIMES AND ACCUMULATED A LARGE VOLUME OF DATASET. THUS IN THIS PROPOSED PROJECT WE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MMS MEASUREMENTS AND AIM TO ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF ELECTRON ACCELERATION AT COLLISIONLESS SHOCKS BY FOCUSING ON THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS: (1) WHERE IN THE SHOCK TRANSITION LAYER ARE ELECTRONS ENERGIZED AND WHAT ARE THEIR CHARACTERISTICS? (2) HOW DO THE UPSTREAM CONDITIONS CONTROL THE LOCATIONS AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRON ACCELERATION? TO ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS WE WILL UTILIZE DATA OBTAINED BY THE MAGNETOSPHERIC MULTISCALE (MMS) MISSION. WE WILL ONLY USE MMS DATA IN A PUBLIC ARCHIVE 30 DAYS BEFORE THE STEP-2 DEADLINE I.E. 2018 JANUARY 11. THE DATA SET USED IN THIS STUDY WILL INCLUDE BOTH QUASIPERPENDICULAR AND QUASI-PARALLEL SHOCK CROSSINGS WITH A BROAD RANGE OF UPSTREAM PARAMETERS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ALFVEN MACH NUMBER SHOCK ANGLE AND PLASMA BETA. TO STUDY BEHAVIORS OF ELECTRONS WE WILL USE 2D AND 3D VISUALIZATIONS OF THE VELOCITY DISTRIBUTIONS PITCH ANGLE DISTRIBUTIONS AND ENERGY SPECTRA. TO IDENTIFY AND STUDY ASSOCIATED PLASMA FEATURES WE WILL EXAMINE VARIOUS DATA INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MAGNETIC AND ELECTRIC FIELDS CURRENTS AND FREQUENCY SPECTRA.

$447,219FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Regents Of The University Of California, The

Investigators

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