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

首席研究员（PI）建议确定称为“交换重连”的日冕物质抛射（CME）过程的太阳位置，并推断发生这种重连的磁结构的性质。交换重联被认为是从太阳释放出一英尺的CME场环，从而减少了它对日光层的贡献。PI计划通过对ICME中单向超热电子的观测，（其用信号表示单连接场线，与逆流电子相反，逆流电子大概用信号表示双连接场回路）与其他基于地面和空间的数据相结合，然后在假设的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。她希望她的结果将测试我们对CME如何离开太阳的理解，并建立在目前CME建模工作的基础上。提议者还希望在解决相关问题方面取得明确的进展，这些问题包括缺乏与太阳完全断开的场的签名，ICME的交换重连率（行星际-日冕物质抛射）移动到日光层很远，逆流作为双连接场线的签名的问题，以及ICME是否有助于太阳周期的磁通量变化。这一提议解决了理解控制CME的物理过程，日光层磁场，以及穿过磁场的超热电子数。首席研究员将担任博士后研究员和本科生的导师，重点是女性参与科学。她还将促进太阳，日光层和行星际环境（SHINE）计划的社区建设工作和研究议程。

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.