Collaborative Research: Exploring the Thermodynamics of the Corona With Total Solar Eclipse Observations

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The Principal Investigators (PIs) will observe the upcoming solar eclipses of 2012 (to be seen in northern Australia) and 2013 (to be seen in west Africa) by exploiting multi-wavelength spectral and polarimetric imaging. The goal of these solar eclipse observations is to capitalize on the diagnostic properties of many coronal forbidden emission lines in order to infer electron temperatures, ion densities, abundances, and charge states, as well as the properties of the coronal magnetic field, while applying state-of-the-art image processing techniques. The proposed observations will extend the PI's eclipse data base to span almost a full solar activity cycle. The PIs explain that the spectral emission lines they plan to measure will enable an unambiguous study of the evolutionary track of coronal density structures, of the transition from a collision-dominated plasma to a weakly-collisional plasma where the ion charge states observed in interplanetary space are established, and of the transition from closed to open magnetic field lines in the corona. These data are essential for simulation and modeling of the expansion of the coronal plasma, the physical processes that control the heating and acceleration of the solar wind, and the evolution of the solar magnetic field. The PIs are female scientists who will mentor graduate and undergraduate students, with graduate students participating in the eclipse expeditions and with undergraduates being introduced to research through summer projects. The PIs will develop educational material to be used at both the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as for public outreach. Results will be disseminated to the research community through presentations at conferences and through refereed scientific publications, where it it will be used to help plan instrument development for the next generation of solar corona observing tools.