Infrared Auroral Emissions Driven by Resonant Electron Impact Excitation of NO Molecules
Infrared Auroral Emissions Driven by Resonant Electron Impact Excitation of NO Molecules
复制标题
NO 分子共振电子碰撞激发驱动的红外极光发射
DOI:
10.1029/2003gl019151
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发表时间:
2004
影响因子:
5.2
通讯作者:
Stephen Buckman
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
L. Campbell;M. Brunger;Z. L. Petrović;M. Jelisavcic;R. Panajotović;Stephen Buckman
Although only a minor constituent of the earth's upper atmosphere, nitric oxide (NO) plays a major role in infrared auroral emissions due to radiation from vibrationally excited (NO*) states. The main process leading to the production of these excited molecules was thought to be chemiluminescence, whereby excited nitrogen atoms interact with oxygen molecules to form vibrationally excited nitric oxide (NO*) and atomic oxygen. Here we show evidence that a different production mechanism for NO*, due to low energy electron impact excitation of NO molecules, is responsible for more than 30% of the NO auroral emission near 5 μm.