Abstract

Radial diffusion coefficients quantify non-adiabatic transport of energetic particles by electromagnetic field fluctuations in planetary radiation belts. Theoretically, radial diffusion occurs for an ensemble of particles that experience irreversible violation of their third adiabatic invariant, which is equivalent to a change in their Roederer L * parameter. Thus, the Roederer L * coordinate is the fundamental quantity from which radial diffusion coefficients can be computed. In this study, we present a methodology to calculate the Lagrangian derivative of L * from global magnetospheric simulations, and test it with an application to Vlasiator, a hybrid-Vlasov model of near-Earth space. We use a Hamiltonian formalism for particles confined to closed drift shells with conserved first and second adiabatic invariants to compute changes in the guiding center drift paths due to electric and magnetic field fluctuations. We investigate the feasibility of this methodology by computing the time derivative of L * for an equatorial ultrarelativistic electron population travelling along four guiding center drift paths in the outer radiation belt during a 5 minute portion of a Vlasiator simulation. Radial diffusion in this simulation is primarily driven by ultralow frequency waves in the Pc3 range (10–45 s period range) that are generated in the foreshock and transmitted through the magnetopause to the outer radiation belt environment. Our results show that an alternative methodology to compute detailed radial diffusion transport is now available and could form the basis for comparison studies between numerical and observational measurements of radial transport in the Earth’s radiation belts.