Modeling Vibrational Populations for the Herzberg States of Molecular Oxygen in the Earth’s Middle Atmosphere during the Precipitation of Charged Particles

Abstract

A study of Herzberg kinetic states ${{c}^{1}}\Sigma _{{\text{u}}}^{ - }$, A'³Δ_u, ${{{\text{A}}}^{3}}\Sigma _{{\text{u}}}^{ + }$ is performed for molecular oxygen in the Earth’s middle atmosphere during the precipitation of high-energy protons and electrons into the atmosphere. It is shown for the first time that considering the transfer of energy from metastable molecular nitrogen N₂(${{{\text{A}}}^{3}}\Sigma _{{\text{u}}}^{ + }$) is important in the processes of exciting the vibrational levels of Herzberg O₂ states in the atmosphere. It is shown numerically that the contribution from processes of intermolecular energy transfer from metastable molecular nitrogen exceeds that of direct excitation of the Herzberg O₂ states by secondary electrons in the Earth’s middle atmosphere.