University’s scientists in the United States finally revealed the mystery of the emergence of polar radiance, proving that powerful electromagnetic waves play a major role during geomagnetic storms. This is reported in the article published in the journal Nature Communications.
According to the hypothesis, Alvenian waves, which are electromagnetic plasma waves, propagating along the power lines of the magnetic field, act as a particle accelerator. Electrons in the composition of solar winds moving at a speed of 72 million kilometers per hour fall into the magnetic field of the Earth, accelerates along the power lines and fall into the upper layers of the atmosphere, where they face oxygen and nitrogen molecules, which, in turn, go to the excited state and emit light.
This hypothesis is partly confirmed by the data of spacecraft, which observed Alventian waves over polar shining. The final evidence was obtained at a large plasma apparatus (LPD) in the Laboratory of Fundamental Research of the Plasma of the University of California in Los Angeles. With the help of numerical modeling, the researchers demonstrated that the results of the experiment confirm the attenuation of Landau, when the energy of the electromagnetic wave is absorbed by more slowly moving electrons.
According to the authors of the work, the experiment is the first direct proof that Alvenov’s waves are capable of producing accelerated electrons, causing polar shine.