Generation of auroral kilometric radiation and the structure of auroral acceleration region

Abstract

Generation of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) in the auroral acceleration region is studied. It is shown that auroral kilometric radiation can be generated by the backscattered electrons trapped in the acceleration region via a cyclotron maser process. The parallel electric field in the acceleration region is required to be distributed over 1–2 R E . The observed AKR frequency spectrum can be used to estimate the altitude range of the auroral acceleration region. The altitudes of the lower and upper boundaries of the acceleration region determined from the AKR data are respectively ∼2000 and ∼9000 km.