Resonant interactions of Alfvén waves and electrons in the LAPD and the acceleration of auroral electrons

Alfven waves have long been thought to resonantly accelerate auroral electrons [1] . The acceleration process is hypothesized to involve inertial Alfven waves, which have typical length scales perpendicular to the background magnetic field B 0 comparable to the electron skin depth [2] . At these perpendicular scales, inertial Alfven waves have an electric field component parallel to B 0 that could resonantly accelerate electrons to auroral energies. The Polar and FAST missions have identified a statistical coincidence between Alfven waves, accelerated electrons, and auroras [3] , [4] . Simulations have detailed the motion of an ensemble of test particles and identified the characteristics of an accelerated population.