The visible aurora is caused by high energy electrons streaming parallel to the earth's magnetic field into the ionosphere. After more than a century of investigation, the process under which these electrons are accelerated is still not completely understood. At present there is a major debate as to which processes cause the acceleration of these electrons; wave-particle interactions or quasi-static plasma potential structures.;Polar-orbiting satellites passing through the auroral region detect various forms of solitary potential structures. Some of these potential structures have an electric field component along the magnetic field; however, there are not enough of them to account for the total potential drop along the auroral zone. The exact contribution these structures make to the auroral acceleration region is unknown and satellites travel through the regions too rapidly to study these structures in sufficient detail. The study underway on the Auburn Triple Plasma Device experimentally simulates the important aspects of the conditions of the auroral acceleration region and creates these small-scale potential structures in a laboratory plasma. Results from this study will be compared with data from two new satellites dedicated to studying small-scale auroral physics. These satellites have faster sampling rates than their predecessors, so that these potential structures can be characterized in greater detail than was previously possible, thus allowing a more substantial interaction with the results of the laboratory experiment.
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