SHINE: Studies of ICME-CME Connections and Implications for Heliospheric Topology

首席研究员（PI）建议确定日冕物质抛射（CME）过程的太阳位置，称为“交换重联”，并推断发生这种重联的磁结构的性质。交换重联被认为从太阳释放了CME场环的一英尺，从而减少了它对日球层的贡献。PI计划通过观察ICMEs中的单向超热电子（信号为单连接的场线，与逆流电子相反，可能信号为双连接的场环路），结合其他地面和空间数据，确定交换重连的潜在地点，然后在假设地点附近搜索太阳的x射线和/或极紫外线图像，以寻找重连事件的证据。她希望她的研究结果将检验我们对日冕物质抛射如何离开太阳的理解，并建立在目前日冕物质抛射建模工作的基础上。该提议者还希望在解决一些相关问题上取得决定性进展，这些问题包括：与太阳完全分离的磁场缺乏特征、当行星际cme（行星际cme）向日球层移动时的交换重联率、作为双连接磁场线特征的逆流问题，以及ICMEs是否对太阳周期的磁通量变化有所贡献。这一建议解决了理解控制日冕物质抛射的物理过程、日球层磁场和穿过该磁场的超热电子群的核心问题。PI将作为博士后研究员和本科生的导师，重点是女性在科学领域的参与。她还将推动社区建设工作和太阳、日球层和行星际环境（SHINE）项目的研究议程。

The Principal Investigator (PI) proposes to identify the solar site of a coronal mass ejection (CME) process called "interchange reconnection" and to deduce properties of the magnetic configuration in which this reconnection occurs. Interchange reconnection is thought to release one foot of a CME field loop from the Sun, thereby reducing the flux it contributes to the heliosphere. The PI plans to identify potential sites of interchange reconnection, using observations of unidirectional suprathermal electrons in ICMEs (which signal singly-connected field lines, as opposed to counterstreaming electrons, which presumably signal doubly-connected field loops) in combination with other ground- and space-based data, and then to search X-ray and/or extreme ultraviolet images of the Sun in the vicinity of the hypothesized sites for evidence of the reconnection event. She expects that her results will test our understanding of how CMEs leave the Sun and build upon the underpinnings of present CME modeling efforts. The proposer also hopes to make definitive progress toward resolving interrelated problems regarding the lack of signatures of fields completely disconnected from the Sun, the rate of interchange reconnection as ICMEs (interplanetary-CMEs) move far out into the heliosphere, the question of counterstreaming as a signature of doubly-connected field lines, and whether ICMEs contribute to the solar cycle variation of magnetic flux.This proposal addresses problems central to understanding the physical processes that control CMEs, the heliospheric magnetic field, and the suprathermal electron populations that thread the field. The PI will serve as a mentor to a postdoctoral researcher and to undergraduate students, with emphasis on the participation of females in the sciences. She will also promote the community building efforts and research agenda of the Solar, Heliospheric, and Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) program.