Using Q-Statistics to Study Pulsating Auroras

Tsallis nonextensive statistical mechanics (or q-statistics) has been used for the first time to study pulsating auroras, which are regularly observed in the auroral ionosphere during geomagnetic disturbances. For systems in which long-range interactions, such as ionized gas or plasma, take place and whose dynamics are determined primarily by long-range electromagnetic forces, it can be expected that nonadditive and nonextensive thermostatistic principles can characterize their macroscopic behavior. In this paper, we argued that pulsating auroras exhibit nonextensive properties and can be described, among other things, by q-statistics. We have also demonstrated that the non-extensive parameter q correlates well with the flatness index and with the scaling index, which indicates the applicability of this approach for auroral glow. Thus, q-statistics can be used to analyze phenomena in the high-latitude region of the Earth.