Exploring Large-Scale Current Sheets Associated with Coronal Mass Ejections

首席调查员(PI)将通过分析来自航天器的极端紫外线(EUV)数据和硬X射线(HXR)数据，研究与日冕物质抛射(CME)相关的等离子体片的详细动力学和结构。国际电流局注意到，电流片物理是我们研究日冕物质抛射和磁重联过程的一个重要组成部分，最近的航天器数据为推进这类研究和解决关键科学问题提供了前所未有的机会。为此，PI将专门利用这些数据来确定这些等离子体片是如何形成的，它们是预先存在的还是仅在CME爆发后才形成的，在EUV中看到的等离子体片与在白光中看到的“CME后射线”是否具有相同的结构，以及这些电流片在CME加速和太阳耀斑能量释放中起到什么作用。由于磁重联是实验室、空间和天体物理等离子体中的基本过程之一，这项工作将增进我们对这一对多个科学学科至关重要的现象的理论理解。在太阳物理学的背景下，太阳大气中的重联事件释放的磁能驱动空间天气，对这一过程的更好理解将改善国家的空间天气预报，造福社会。该项目将支持一位年轻的太阳物理学家的专业发展，这项研究将通过将其纳入NJIT课堂的本科课程而产生教育影响。

The Principal Investigator (PI) will investigate the detailed dynamics and structure of plasma sheets associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), by analyzing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) data and hard X-ray (HXR) data from spacecraft. The PI notes that the physics of current sheets is an important component in our study of CMEs and the magnetic reconnection process, and that recent spacecraft data provide an unprecedented opportunity to advance this type of research and to address key scientific questions. To this end, the PI will specifically use this data to determine how these plasma sheets form, whether they are pre-existent or are formed only after the onset of a CME eruption, whether the plasma sheets seen in EUV and the "post-CME rays" seen in white light are the same structures, and what role these current sheets play in CME acceleration and solar flare energy release. Since magnetic reconnection is one of the fundamental processes in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas, this work will enhance our theoretical understanding of a phenomenon that is crucial to multiple scientific disciplines. In the solar physics context, the magnetic energy released by reconnection events in the solar atmosphere drives space weather and a better of understanding of this process will improve the nation's space weather forecasts for the benefit of society. The project will support the professional development of a young solar physicist, and this research will have an educational impact through its incorporation into the undergraduate curriculum in classrooms at NJIT.