  Wave--particle interactions play a crucial role in transferring energy
between electromagnetic fields and charged particles in space and astrophysical
plasmas. Despite the prevalence of different electromagnetic waves in space,
there is still a lack of understanding of fundamental aspects of wave--particle
interactions, particularly in terms of energy flow and velocity-space
characteristics. In this study, we combine a novel quasilinear model with
observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to reveal the
signatures of resonant interactions between electrons and whistler waves in
magnetic holes, which are coherent structures often found in the Earth's
magnetosheath. We investigate the energy transfer rates and velocity-space
characteristics associated with Landau and cyclotron resonances between
electrons and slightly oblique propagating whistler waves. In the case of our
observed magnetic hole, the loss of electron kinetic energy primarily
contributes to the growth of whistler waves through the $n=-1$ cyclotron
resonance, where $n$ is the order of the resonance expansion in linear
Vlasov--Maxwell theory. The excitation of whistler waves leads to a reduction
of the temperature anisotropy and parallel heating of the electrons. Our study
offers a new and self-consistent understanding of resonant energy transfer in
turbulent plasmas.
