POLAR 5—an electron accelerator experiment within an aurora. 2. Scattering of an artificially produced electron beam in the atmosphere

The interaction between an artificially produced narrow beam of electrons and the upper atmosphere has been studied by the POLAR 5 electron accelerator “mother”-“daughter” rocket. It is shown how the beam develops a “halo” of scattered electrons and how the low energy electron population in this “halo” is produced partly during the ionization process (at low altitudes), partly by a “wave-plasma” interaction which accelerates the ionospheric background electrons.