Electron velocity distribution functions in the solar wind

We discuss observations of 38,229 electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs) in the solar wind observed by the Wind spacecraft near 1 AU. The data are take from two time periods: January 1–23, 2013 and July 1–31, 2017. This represents a proof of concept study to illustrate the calibration of the 3DP instrument under a wide range of solar wind conditions. Examination of the properties of the entire VDF in addition to the core, halo, and strahl populations will be presented. Emphasis will be placed on deviations from isotropic Maxwellian VDFs and the importance of the kinetic features in each subcomponent of the distributions.