Bi-Maxwellian Characterization of Energetic Electron Populations in Diffuse Aurora
Odutayo R. Rufai, Ayooluwa O. OdufoworaWe examine energetic electron distributions in the region of the diffuse aurora using a two-dimensional bi-Maxwellian model, applied to electron flux data at a single geomagnetic equator (L = 6.5). Electron flux is analyzed as a function of energy and pitch angle and transformed into velocity space to reconstruct the distribution function. An unweighted log-space least-squares fit of the bi-Maxwellian model to the reconstructed distribution yields a reduced residual measure of χv2=1.000053, a mean absolute residual of |Δlog10f|=0.0469 dex, an anisotropy factor, AT=0.9886±0.0016, and no statistically significant bulk drift. These results show that, at this location, the bi-Maxwellian model reproduces the observed velocity-space structure with good quantitative accuracy and reveals a quasi-isotropic, near-equilibrium electron population.