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We present the first results study of the effects of the powerful gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A that occurred on 2022 October 9, and was serendipitously recorded by electron and proton detectors on board the four spacecraft of the NASA THEMIS mission. Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful cosmic explosions, signaling the death of massive stars, and, among them, GRB 221009A is so far the brightest burst ever observed due to its enormous energy (E γ iso ≈ 1055 erg) and proximity (the redshift is z ≈ 0.1505). The THEMIS mission launched in 2008 was designed to study the plasma processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere and the solar wind. The particle flux measurements from the two inner magnetosphere THEMIS probes, THA and THE, and two outer probes (renamed ARTEMIS after 2010), THB and THC, orbiting the Moon captured the dynamics of GRB 221009A with a high time resolution of 4 (up to 8) measurements per second. This allowed us to resolve the fine structure of the GRB and determine the temporal scales of the two main bursts’ spiky structure, complementing the results from gamma-ray space telescopes and detectors.

An interplanetary (IP) shock wave was recorded crossing the Magnetospheric Multiscale constellation on 2018 January 8. Plasma measurements upstream of the shock indicate efficient proton acceleration in the IP shock ramp: 2-7 keV protons are observed upstream for about three minutes (∼8000 km) ahead of the IP shock ramp, outrunning the upstream waves. The differential energy flux of 2-7 keV protons decays slowly with distance from the ramp toward the upstream region (dropping by about half within 8 Earth radii from the ramp) and is lessened by a factor of about four in the downstream compared to the ramp (within a distance comparable to the gyroradius of ∼keV protons). Comparison with test-particle simulations has confirmed that the mechanism accelerating the solar wind protons and injecting them upstream is classical Shock Drift Acceleration (SDA). This example of observed proton acceleration by a low-Mach, quasi-perpendicular shock may be applicable to astrophysical contexts, such as supernova remnants or the acceleration of cosmic rays.

On 2019 April 5, while the Parker Solar Probe was at its 35 solar radius perihelion, the data set collected at 293 samples/s contained more than 10,000 examples of spiky electric-field-like structures with durations less than 200 milliseconds and amplitudes greater than 10 mV m-1. The vast majority of these events were caused by plasma turbulence. Defining dust events as those with similar, narrowly peaked, positive, and single-ended signatures resulted in finding 135 clear dust events, which, after correcting for the low detection efficiently, resulted in an estimate consistent with the 1000 dust events expected from other techniques. Defining time domain structures (TDS) as those with opposite polarity signals in the opposite antennas resulted in finding 238 clear TDS events which, after correcting for the detection efficiency, resulted in an estimated 500-1000 TDS events on this day. The TDS electric fields were bipolar, as expected for electron holes. Several events were found at times when the magnetic field was in the plane of the two measured components of the electric field such that the component of the electric field parallel to the magnetic field was measured. One example of significant parallel electric fields shows the negative potential that classified them as electron holes. Because the TDS observation rate was not uniform with time, it is likely that there were local regions below the spacecraft with field-aligned currents that generated the TDS.

We present surprising observations by the NASA Van Allen Probes spacecraft of whistler waves with substantial electric field power at harmonics of the whistler wave fundamental frequency. The wave power at harmonics is due to a nonlinearly steepened whistler electrostatic field that becomes possible in the two-temperature electron plasma due to the whistler wave coupling to the electron-acoustic mode. The simulation and analytical estimates show that the steepening takes a few tens of milliseconds. The hydrodynamic energy cascade to higher frequencies facilitates efficient energy transfer from cyclotron resonant electrons, driving the whistler waves, to lower energy electrons.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8143.

Whistler-mode emissions are important electromagnetic waves pervasive in the Earth's magnetosphere, where they continuously remove or energize electrons trapped by the geomagnetic field, controlling radiation hazards to satellites and astronauts and the upper-atmosphere ionization or chemical composition. Here, we report an analysis of 10-year Cluster data, statistically evaluating the full wave energy budget in the Earth's magnetosphere, revealing that a significant fraction of the energy corresponds to hitherto generally neglected very oblique waves. Such waves, with 10 times smaller magnetic power than parallel waves, typically have similar total energy. Moreover, they carry up to 80% of the wave energy involved in wave-particle resonant interactions. It implies that electron heating and precipitation into the atmosphere may have been significantly under/over-valued in past studies considering only conventional quasi-parallel waves. Very oblique waves may turn out to be a crucial agent of energy redistribution in the Earth's radiation belts, controlled by solar activity.

Since the advent of the Space Age, the importance of understanding and forecasting relativistic electron fluxes in the Earth's radiation belts has been steadily growing due to the threat that such particles pose to satellite electronics. Here, we provide a model of long-duration periods of high time-integrated 2-MeV electron flux deep inside the outer radiation belt, based on the significant correlation obtained in 2001-2017 between time-integrated electron flux measured by satellites and a measure of the preceding time-integrated homogenized aa H geomagnetic index. We show that this correlation is likely due to a stronger cumulative chorus wave-driven acceleration of relativistic electrons and a stronger cumulative inward radial diffusion of such electrons during periods of higher time-integrated geomagnetic activity. Return levels of 2-MeV electron flux are provided based on Extreme Value analysis of time-integrated geomagnetic activity over 1868-2017, in rough agreement with estimates based on 20-year data sets of measured flux. A high correlation is also found between our measure of time-integrated geomagnetic activity averaged over each solar cycle and averaged sunspot numbers, potentially paving the way for forecasts of time-integrated relativistic electron flux during future solar cycles based on predictions of solar activity., (© 2022. The Authors.)

Despite the importance of millisecond duration spatial structures [chorus wave nonlinearity or time domain structures (TDS)] to plasma dynamics, there have been no direct observations of the generation and interaction of these waves and TDS with electrons at the millisecond timescale required for their understanding. Through superposition of 0.195 ms Magnetospheric Multiscale Satellite electron measurements inside 37 superposed, millisecond duration electron holes, the first observations of electron spectra and pitch angle distributions on a submillisecond timescale have been obtained. They show that keV electrons inside the superposed electron hole are accelerated by several hundred volts and that the spectrum of electrons inside the electron hole contain several maxima and minima that are explained by a model of electron energy changes on entering the holes. We report the first observation of trapped electrons inside the TDS, in accordance with the theoretical requirement that such electrons must be present in order to form the phase space holes. Mechanisms of electron acceleration by electron holes (through perpendicular energy gain as the TDS moves into a converging magnetic field) and scattering (due to the perpendicular electric field) are discussed.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8143.

The dipole configuration of the Earth's magnetic field allows for the trapping of highly energetic particles, which form the radiation belts. Although significant advances have been made in understanding the acceleration mechanisms in the radiation belts, the loss processes remain poorly understood. Unique observations on 17 January 2013 provide detailed information throughout the belts on the energy spectrum and pitch angle (angle between the velocity of a particle and the magnetic field) distribution of electrons up to ultra-relativistic energies. Here we show that although relativistic electrons are enhanced, ultra-relativistic electrons become depleted and distributions of particles show very clear telltale signatures of electromagnetic ion cyclotron wave-induced loss. Comparisons between observations and modelling of the evolution of the electron flux and pitch angle show that electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves provide the dominant loss mechanism at ultra-relativistic energies and produce a profound dropout of the ultra-relativistic radiation belt fluxes.