Magnetospheric Electron-Velocity-Distribution Function Information from Wave Observations

The electron-velocity-distribution function was determined to be highly non-Maxwellian and more appropriate to a kappa distribution, with κ ≈ 2.0, near magnetic midnight in the low-latitude magnetosphere just outside a stable plasmasphere during extremely quiet geomagnetic conditions. The kappa results were based on sounder-stimulated Qn plasma resonances using the Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) on the IMAGE satellite; the state of the plasmasphere was determined from IMAGE/EUV observations. The Qn resonances correspond to the maximum frequencies of Bernstein-mode waves that are observed between the harmonics of the electron cyclotron frequency in the frequency domain above the upper-hybrid frequency. Here we present the results of a parametric investigation that included suprathermal electrons in the electron-velocity-distribution function used in the plasma-wave dispersion equation to calculate the Qn frequencies for a range of kappa and fpe/fce values for Qn resonances from Q1 to Q9. The Qn frequencies were also calculated using a Maxwellian distribution and they were found to be greater than those calculated using a kappa distribution with the frequency differences increasing with increasing n for a fixed κ and with decreasing κ for a fixed n. The calculated fQn values have been incorporated into the RPI BinBrowser software providing a powerful tool for rapidly obtaining information on the nature of the magnetospheric electron-velocity-distribution function and the electron number density Ne. This capability enabled accurate (within a few percent) in-situ Ne determinations to be made along the outbound orbital track as IMAGE moved away from the plasmapause. The extremely quiet geomagnetic conditions allowed IMAGE/EUV-extracted counts to be compared with the RPI-determined orbital-track Ne profile. The comparisons revealed remarkably similar Ne structures.