Development of a Method for Recovery of the Energy Spectra of Precipitating Electrons from the Data of Measurements in the Atmosphere

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Abstract

Regular measurements of fluxes of charged particles in the Earth’s atmosphere conducted by the
Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) made it possible to register since 1963 more than 500 cases of precipitation
of energetic electrons in the northern polar latitudes. The obtained experimental data represent the world’s
only database on the precipitation of electrons registered directly in the Earth’s atmosphere. Primary precipitating
electrons are absorbed in the upper layers of the atmosphere. However, the fluxes of secondary photons
generated by them can penetrate deep into the atmosphere, sometimes to heights of ~20 km, which are
accessible for balloon measurements by the Lebedev Physical Institute. This paper presents a new technique
for reconstructing the energy spectrum of precipitating electrons developed on the basis of the Monte Carlo
simulation of the processes of electron propagation in the atmosphere. The applicability of the technique to
the accumulated experimental data is shown, and new results are presented for individual events recorded in
the atmosphere.

About the authors

V. S. Makhmutov

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University); Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS)

Email: makhmutv@sci.lebedev.ru
Moscow, Russia; Moscow, Russia

E. A. Maurchev

Pushkov Institute of Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Propagation of Radio Waves. Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN); Polar Geophysical Institute

Email: maurchev1987@gmail.com
Moscow, Troitsk, Russia; Apatity (Murmansk region), Russia

G. A. Bazilevskaya

Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS)

Email: bazilevskayaga@lebedev.ru
Moscow, Russia

I. A. Mironova

St. Petersburg State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: irini.mironova@gmail.com
St. Petersburg, Russia

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Copyright (c) 2023 В.С. Махмутов, Е.А. Маурчев, Г.А. Базилевская, И.А. Миронова