Strahl is the strongly field-aligned, beam-like population of electrons in the solar wind. Strahl width is observed to
increase with distance from the Sun, and hence strahl electrons must be subject to in-transit scattering effects.
Different energy relations have been both observed and modeled for both strahl width and the width increase with
radial distance. Thus, there is much debate regarding what mechanism(s) scatter strahl. In this study, we use a
novel method to investigate strahl evolution within 1 au by estimating the distance traveled by the strahl along the
interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We do this by implementing methods developed in previous studies, which
make use of the onset of solar energetic particles at ∼1 au. Thus, we are able to obtain average strahl broadening in
relation to electron energy and distance, while also taking into account the general effect of IMF topology and
adiabatic focusing experienced by strahl. We find that average strahl width broadens with distance traveled along
the IMF, which suggests that strahl width is related to the path length taken by the strahl from the Sun to 1 au. We
also find that strahl pitch-angle width broadening per au along the IMF length increased with strahl energy, which
suggests that the dominant strahl pitch-angle scattering mechanism likely has an inherent energy relation. Our
pitch-angle broadening results provide a testable energy relation for the upcoming Parker Solar Probe and Solar
Orbiter missions, which are both set to provide unprecedented new observations within 1 au
