Electron heating resulting from interhemispherical transport of photoelectrons

Abstract

Ambient electron heating rates along several magnetic field lines have been determined for subsequent studies of electron and ion temperatures. Use is made of the modified diffusion method for computing the heating of the ambient plasma, and the escape fluxes from both hemispheres are coupled by self-consistent upper boundary conditions supplied by interhemispheric fluxes degraded in energy along the magnetic field tubes. Heating rates and fluxes are presented for several low L-shells appropriate for noon solstice conditions when both hemispheres are illuminated. The opacity of the field tubes as a function of L is expected to go through a minimum due to the transition from large collective effects of coulomb small angle scattering and energy loss for high L-shells, to a domination by neutral scattering all along the field lines of low L-shells.