Auroral ion velocity distribution function: Generalized polynomial solution of Boltzmann's equation

The ion distribution function is calculated for the E and the F regions of the auroral latitudes. In these regions the plasma is weakly ionized and there exist convective electric fields which may attain very significant intensities. Boltzmann's equation is solved in the limit where the ion-neutral collision frequency is much lower than the ion gyrofrequency. This solution is obtained in the form of a generalized polynomial series expansion starting from a good zeroth-order approximation. With this weight function, and considering a development to the order of the 32 moments, good approximations are obtained for high electric fields. The resonant charge exchange model and the polarization model are successively considered. The Post-Rosenbluth instability threshold is discussed for the above two models.