Ultrahigh frequency additional background radiation of the lower ionosphere during strong geomagnetic disturbances

Abstract

In periods of high solar activity and the formation of geomagnetic storms, additional background incoherent ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radiation with decimeter to millimeter wavelengths in the high E and D layers of the Earth’s ionosphere is generated. This emission is produced by transitions between Rydberg states of atoms and molecules of atmospheric gases, which are excited by electrons and are surrounded by a neutral species of the medium. At present, there is no reliable information on the integrated intensity of UHF radiation in this wavelength range. This problem can be solved on knowledge of the dynamics of collisional and radiative quenching of Rydberg states and of the kinetics of their population in the lower ionosphere. An analysis of the available experimental data shows that the radiation is generated in an atmospheric layer located at altitudes between 50 and 110 km. The current theory is discussed and the ways of its further improvement connected with the development of more rigorous theoretical methods for describing the effect of neutral particles of medium on the collisional and radiative quenching dynamics, including the elementary processes with participation of the nitrogen and oxygen molecules, are suggested. For quantitatively estimates the influence of excited particles on the incoherent UHF radiation of the atmosphere, it is necessary carrying out of the preliminary calculations the potential energy surfaces and dynamics of nonadiabatic transitions between Rydberg states, construction the electronic wave functions, and determination the dipole moments of the allowed transitions and the emission line shapes. Obtained results can be included into the general kinetic scheme which defines of the UHF radiation intensity versus the density and temperature of the atmosphere. Accompanying its infrared (IR) radiation can be used to define of Rydberg states.