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Plasma astrophysics

Acceleration of killer electrons

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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