Abstract: The fluxes of radiation belt electrons are highly variable, due to a competition between various acceleration, loss, and transport processes. My study focuses on electron-EMIC (electromagnetic ion-cyclotron) wave interactions, which has been proposed to be one of the possible mechanisms leading to the loss of the relativistic electrons into the atmosphere.

To better understand whether pitch-angle scattering by EMIC waves is an important radiation belt electron loss mechanism and whether quasi-linear theory is a sufficient theoretical treatment, we simulate the quasi-linear wave-particle interactions for a range of parameters and generate energy spectra, laying the foundation for modeling specific events that can be compared with balloon and spacecraft observations.

Next, we conduct an event study using our model to test whether EMIC wave scattering is a precipitation mechanism for relativistic electrons. We simulate the relativistic electron pitch-angle diffusion caused by gyroresonant interactions with EMIC waves using wave and particle data measured by multiple instruments on board GOES-13 and the Van Allen Probes, and compare with BARREL observations. The event reported here is the first balloon REP event with closely conjugate EMIC wave observations, and our study employs the most detailed quantitative analysis on the link of EMIC waves with observed REP to date.