Light Recordings from Near-Earth Synchrotron Radiating Plasma Currents

Synchrotron radiation in the visible is produced by an intense particle beam (currents) in the presence of a magnetic field in the direction of relativistic electron acceleration. Among the properties of synchrotron radiation are: high brightness and high intensity many orders of magnitude more than X-rays; a high level of polarization (linear or elliptical); high collimation, i.e. small angular divergence of the beam; and high brilliance, exceeding other natural and artificial light sources by many orders of magnitude. For example, a brilliance larger than 10$^{18}$ photons/s/mm$^2$/mrad$^2$ /0.1\%BW, where 0.1\%BW denotes a bandwidth 1$^{-3}\omega$ centered around frequency $\omega$. The properties of Birkeland currents from intense solar storms lasting decades but separated by millennia are: 56 pairs of currents (as in the penumbra of a dense plasma focus) enveloping the Earth on their passage through space. For the Earth, the electron flow is towards Antarctica. Both particle-in-cell simulations and man-made ground recordings indicate ground illumination of meter to decameter wide white lines fanning out at the poles [1,2]. \\[4pt] [1] A. L. Peratt and W. F. Yao, \textit{Physica Script} a \textbf{T131}, October 2008\\[0pt] [2] P. Devereux and N. Pennick, ``Lines on the Landscape,'' Robert Hale Ltd., London 1989.