Abstract
The effect of parallel electric fields on the angular distribution of auroral kilometric radiation at frequencies between 56.2 and 500 kHz is examined by ray tracing computations in polar wind and auroral plasma cavity models. The results show that the effect is not significant at frequencies between 100 and 500 kHz in both models. The presence of an electric field does affect the angular distribution at 56.2 kHz where the ray paths representing the boundary of the emission cone in the dayside and nightside sectors of the noon‐midnight meridian are tilted equatorward and poleward, respectively, by about 20° (i.e., the cone axis is redirected toward the evening sector by about 20°). An attempt to match the results with the observations shows that the initial wave normal angles for these ray paths are 262° and 85.5°, respectively. The ray paths computed in the plasma cavity model also yield the same result except for some minor adjustment with the initial wave normal angles.
Published Version
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