  Suprathermal tails are a common feature of solar wind electron velocity
distributions, and are expected in the solar corona. From the corona,
suprathermal electrons can propagate through the steep temperature gradient of
the transition region towards the chromosphere, and lead to non-Maxwellian
electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs) with pronounced suprathermal
tails. We calculate the evolution of a coronal electron distribution through
the transition region in order to quantify the suprathermal electron population
there. A kinetic model for electrons is used which is based on solving the
Boltzmann-Vlasov equation for electrons including Coulomb collisions with both
ions and electrons. Initial and chromospheric boundary conditions are
Maxwellian VDFs with densities and temperatures based on a background fluid
model. The coronal boundary condition has been adopted from earlier studies of
suprathermal electron formation in coronal loops. The model results show the
presence of strong suprathermal tails in transition region electron VDFs,
starting at energies of a few 10 eV. Above electron energies of 600 eV,
electrons can traverse the transition region essentially collision-free. The
presence of strong suprathermal tails in transition region electron VDFs shows
that the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium is not justified there.
This has a significant impact on ionization dynamics, as is shown in a
companion paper.
