Origin of the plasma in a cross‐polar cap auroral feature (theta aurora)

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Abstract
Ion composition data obtained from a particularly well observed cross‐polar cap auroral feature (theta aurora) are presented. Two components of the hot plasma are identified, one from the ionosphere below and the second from the distant plasma sheet. These observations provide strong support for the conclusion that the cross‐polar cap auroral feature occurs on field lines closing through the distant plasma sheet or plasma sheet boundary layer. Taken together with the previously published observations, these new results establish substantial constraints on models for the overall polar cap topology. However, they do not unambiguously favor either of the two principal topologies discussed in the literature.