The Development of a Bursty Precipitation Front with Intense Localized Parallel Electric Fields Driven by Whistler Waves

The dynamics and structure of whistler turbulence relevant to electron acceleration in the Earth's outer radiation belt are explored with simulations and comparisons with observations. An initial state with an electron temperature anisotropy in a spatially localized domain drives whistlers which scatter electrons. An outward propagating front of whistlers and hot electrons nonlinearly evolves to form regions of intense parallel electric field with structure similar to observations. The precipitating hot electrons propagate away from the source region in intense bunches rather than as a smooth flux.