The mystery surrounding what causes the northern lights has been speculated but never proven, until now.
A group of physicists from the University of Iowa have finally proven that the"most brilliant auroras are produced by powerful electromagnetic waves during geomagnetic storms," according to a newly released study.
This idea of electrons"surfing" on the electric field is a theory first introduced in 1946 by a Russian physicist, Lev Landau, that was named Landau damping. His theory has now been proven.Scientists have understood for decades how the aurora most likely is created, but they have now been able to simulate it, for the first time, in a lab at the Large Plasma Device in UCLA's Basic Plasma Science Facility.
Although the experiment didn't recreate the colorful shimmer we see in the sky,"our measurements in the laboratory clearly agreed with predictions from computer simulations and mathematical calculations, proving that electrons surfing on Alfven waves can accelerate the electrons that cause the aurora," said Howes.
Koehn said he believes being able to understand the acceleration mechanism for the aurora-causing electrons will be helpful in many studies in the future.
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