SHINE: Studies of Solar Wind Turbulence and Thermodynamics

首席研究员（PI）和他的同事将使用多个航天器仪器，并将这些观测结果与太阳风湍流联系起来，研究太阳风中质子和电子俯仰角散射和加热的物理现象。具体而言，研究团队将研究湍流、质子温度各向异性不稳定性和太阳风加热的相互作用，以及色散湍流、波和不稳定性在控制太阳风电子热力学中的作用。这项研究的首要目标是了解太阳风中质子和电子热力学的演变以及日球层的场波动，在广泛的参数范围内。该团队先前已经展示了他们的统计方法来研究行星际介质中波粒耦合的物理特性。这项新的研究将提供温度各向异性、小尺度不稳定性和湍流之间联系的详细图景。PI对高频电磁波动的不同波型的系统研究将为温度各向异性研究提供基本约束，并约束太阳风湍流和相关加热的耗散机制。该项目将提供一名初级科学家的持续专业发展和一名全日制研究生的培训。研究太阳风电子分布函数的非平衡特性，对于解决弱碰撞等离子体中的热传导、等离子体微不稳定性和输运等问题，以及确定太阳风的起源具有重要意义。这项工作也将有广泛的天体物理学应用，因为在这个项目中研究的耗散模式和不稳定性发生在太阳日冕、其他恒星的日冕和紧凑的天体物理物体中，以及宇宙中其他更奇特的环境中，如天体物理喷流和超新星爆炸波。

The Principal Investigator (PI) and his colleagues will investigate the physics of proton and electron pitch-angle scattering and heating in the solar wind, using multiple spacecraft instruments and relating these observations to solar wind turbulence. Specifically, the research team will study the interaction of turbulence, proton temperature anisotropy instabilities, and solar wind heating, as well as the role of dispersive turbulence, waves, and instabilities in controlling solar wind electron thermodynamics. The overarching goal of this investigation is to understand the evolution of proton and electron thermodynamics in the solar wind and of field fluctuations in the heliosphere, over a wide range of parameters.The team have previously demonstrated their statistical approach to studying the physics of wave-particle coupling in the interplanetary medium. This new investigation will provide a detailed picture of the connections among temperature anisotropies, small-scale instabilities, and turbulence. The PI's systematic study of different wave modes for high frequency electromagnetic fluctuations will provide fundamental constraints to temperature anisotropy studies, as well as constrain the dissipation mechanisms of solar wind turbulence and associated heating. This project will provide for the continued professional development of a junior scientist and the training of one full time graduate student. The study of the non-equilibrium characteristics of solar wind electron distribution functions are of great importance for solving problems related to heat conduction, plasma micro-instabilities, and transport in weakly collisional plasmas, as well as for determining the origin of the solar wind. This work will have broad astrophysical applications as well, since the dissipation modes and instabilities investigated in this project occur in the solar corona, the coronas of other stars and compact astrophysical objects, and in other more exotic environments in the universe, such as astrophysical jets and supernova blast waves.