Prediction of electron-driven VUV emission in the atmosphere

Full text: Electron impact in the upper atmosphere produces excited states of atoms and molecules, which can radiatively decay to produce light emission such as aurora and dayglow. We are developing a model, incorporating electron cross sections, electron energy spectra, radiative transitions, predissociation and quenching, to predict the populations of the excited states and the associated photon emission. Most of the emission is in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared parts of the spectrum, but here we look at the emissions at wavelengths below 2500 Angstroms. The predicted emissions are compared with observations