Collaborative Research: Radioastronomical Remote Sensing of the Solar Corona

这个合作研究小组将研究发生在太阳日冕中的等离子体物理过程，研究人员的动机是日冕提供了实验室实验无法获得的物理机制。研究人员将集中精力利用甚大阵列（VLA）射电望远镜及其升级（统称为扩展甚大阵列（EVLA））对日冕和内太阳风进行遥感测量，并根据日冕等离子体物理解释这些观测结果。该小组的主要观测技术将是测量被太阳日冕遮挡的背景射电源的法拉第旋转。该团队将使用EVLA进行法拉第旋转测量，EVLA将比以前获得的日冕更深，高度为2到5个太阳半径。这种方法将产生关于日冕磁场和这个内部区域的磁流体动力学（MHD）湍流特性的信息。然后，该团队将使用日冕的MHD模型，为VLA和EVLA测量的相同视线路径创建合成法拉第旋转测量，以便将结果和模型的准确性与实际观测结果进行比较和测试。爱荷华州的首席研究员（PI）将指导爱荷华大学的本科生和研究生参与这个项目，波士顿的联合PI将为这些学生提供在哈佛-史密森天体物理中心的研究经验。首席PI还将通过东爱荷华天文台和学习中心（EIOLC）参与公共宣传，并与业余天文团体合作，特别是爱荷华州锡达拉皮兹的锡达业余天文学家和四城天文俱乐部。

This collaborative research team will study plasma physics processes occuring in the solar corona, and the investigators are motivated by the fact that the corona provides physical regimes which are inaccessible to laboratory experiments. The researchers will concentrate on making remote sensing measurements of the corona and inner solar wind using the Very Large Array (VLA) radiotelescope, as well as its upgrades (collectively called the Expanded Very Large Array, or EVLA), and interpreting those observations in terms of coronal plasma physics. The team's primary observational technique will be the measurement of Faraday Rotation of background radio sources that are occulted by the solar corona. The team will make Faraday Rotation measurements using the EVLA that will be deeper in the corona than previously obtained, at altitudes of 2 to 5 solar radii. This approach will yield information on the properties of the coronal magnetic field and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in this inner region. The team will then use MHD models of the corona to create synthetic Faraday Rotation measures for the same line-of-sight paths measured with the VLA and EVLA, in order to compare results and test of the accuracy of their models against actual observations.The lead Principal Investigator (PI) in Iowa will mentor University of Iowa undergraduate and graduate students participating in this project, and the Co-PI in Boston will offer research experiences for these students at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The lead PI will also engage in public outreach through the Eastern Iowa Observatory and Learning Center (EIOLC) and collaborations with amateur astronomy groups, particularly the Cedar Amateur Astronomers of Cedar Rapids and the Astronomy Club of the Quad Cities, both in Iowa.