Rocket Observation of sub-relativistic electrons in the quiet dayside
auroral ionosphere
Abstract
An energy spectrum of electrons from 180 keV to 550 keV precipitating
into the dayside polar ionosphere is observed for the first time by the
HEP instrument onboard the RockSat-XN sounding rocket under
geomagnetically quiet condition (AE ≤100 nT) at Andøya, Norway. The
observed energy spectrum of precipitating electrons follows a power law
of -4.86 and the electron flux does not vary much over the observation
period (~274.4 seconds). A few minutes before the
RockSat-XN observation, POES18 / MEPED observed precipitating electrons,
which suggest chorus wave activities at the location close to the rocket
trajectory. A ground-based VLF receiver observation at Lovozero, Russia
also supports the presence of chorus waves during the rocket
observation. A test-particle simulation for wave-particle interactions
based on the Arase satellite data shows a similar energy spectrum of
precipitating electrons, consistent with the RockSat-XN observation.
These results suggest that the precipitation observed by RockSat-XN is
likely to be caused by the wave-particle interactions between chorus
waves and sub-relativistic electrons.