Investigations of Auroral Excitation Processes: Emphasis onVegard-Kaplan and Green Line Production Mechanisms

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There is a developing interest in using optical emissions associated with the aurora to determine the global energy input into the atmosphere from particles precipitating from the magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. To be able to do this requires a basic understanding of the excitation mechanisms for these emissions. This project is a controlled laboratory experiment to investigate many of these excitation mechanisms. Among them is the generation of a particular excited state of molecular nitrogen (A u ) to determine its role in the production of the green line of atomic oxygen (5577 A). Emission excitation mechanisms for this radiation are still unclear even though it is the strongest visible region auroral emission and one of the first emissions identified in the auroral spectrum.