Luminescence of Molecular Nitrogen Bands in the Earth’s Atmosphere during the Precipitation of High-Energy Electrons

The luminescence-intensity profiles of the bands of the first and second positive systems of molecular nitrogen were calculated for the case of the precipitation of high-energy electrons with energies from 10 keV to 10 MeV into the atmosphere. The calculations showed that the contribution of the quenching of state B3Πg N2 increases during molecular collisions with an increase in the energy of electrons intruding into the atmosphere. This leads to a decrease in the ratio of the integrated intensities of the bands of the first and second positive systems with an increase in the energy of electrons that precipitate into the atmosphere.