Figure 6: Trajectories of trapped electrons.
From: Wave-driven butterfly distribution of Van Allen belt relativistic electrons
Test-particle simulations of relativistic (2 MeV) electron trajectories by the TS04 magnetic model for different pitch angles 70° (green), 80° (blue) and 90° (black). The input parameters for TS04 magnetic model are based on the observations. Starting at the location (the symbols S): L=4.8 and MLT=24, relativistic electrons drift eastward around Earth and approach a farthest location L≈5.1 on the dayside. Then they pass the observed location (the symbol O) without loss to the magnetopause because the magnetopause locates above L=7.6 in the simulation period.
