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Plasma astrophysics

Acceleration of killer electrons

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Relativistic electrons in the outer Van Allen belt wreak havoc with satellites in geosynchronous orbit, but how they reach such high energies has been unclear. New data identify gyro-resonant wave–particle interactions as the culprit.

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Figure 1: Electron acceleration in the outer Van Allen radiation belt.

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Horne, R. Acceleration of killer electrons. Nature Phys 3, 590–591 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys703

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