Fermi acceleration of electrons inside foreshock transient cores

TL;DR

This study investigates how electrons are accelerated inside foreshock transient cores near Earth's bow shock, proposing Fermi acceleration as the primary mechanism supported by observational data and simulations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Fermi acceleration explains electron energization in foreshock transient cores, supported by THEMIS observations and test particle simulations.

Findings

Electron energies increase gradually within foreshock transient cores.

Fermi acceleration reproduces observed electron distribution evolution.

Electron pitch-angle distributions become isotropic during acceleration.

Abstract

Foreshock transients upstream of Earth's bow shock have been recently observed to accelerate electrons to many times their thermal energy. How such acceleration occurs is unknown, however. Using THEMIS case studies, we examine a subset of acceleration events (31 of 247 events) in foreshock transients with cores that exhibit gradual electron energy increases accompanied by low background magnetic field strength and large-amplitude magnetic fluctuations. Using the evolution of electron distributions and the energy increase rates at multiple spacecraft, we suggest that Fermi acceleration between a converging foreshock transient's compressional boundary and the bow shock is responsible for the observed electron acceleration. We then show that a one-dimensional test particle simulation of an ideal Fermi acceleration model in fluctuating fields prescribed by the observations can reproduce the observed evolution of electron distributions, energy increase rate, and pitch-angle isotropy, providing further support for our hypothesis. Thus, Fermi acceleration is likely the principal electron acceleration mechanism in at least this subset of foreshock transient cores.