SHINE: Connecting the Solar Wind From the Corona to the Heliosphere

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This 3-year SHINE project aims to quantitatively study the solar wind from end to end, for the first time, by linking two completely different types of data and using a novel, powerful diagnostic technique, the Michigan Ionization Code (MIC). The results of this project will lead to a whole new level of quantitative understanding of the thermal and environmental conditions in the source regions of the solar wind, and in an empirical description of the wind physical parameters, thermal history and acceleration. Furthermore, the project will provide the community with a new, powerful tool to predict the evolution of ion charge states in the solar wind, as well as a powerful methodology to study the solar wind matching two completely different types of observations: high-resolution spectral and in-situ ion composition measurements. The project is primarily intended to fund and develop the skills of a graduate student, and the methodology and results coming from the research investigations will be incorporated into the graduate students thesis. The peculiar nature of the project, which connects two entirely different types of observations and of data analysis techniques, will uniquely position the graduate student at the crossroads of two communities the in-situ and remote sensing communities and will provide her/him the expertise to contribute to both of them. Additionally, undergraduates will be involved through programs like the REU at the University of Michigan. The research and EPO agenda of this project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research.The main science objectives of this SHINE project are: (1) investigate the heating and acceleration of both slow and fast solar wind; and, (2) uniquely identify the solar wind source regions. To accomplish these objectives, the project team will: (1) utilize the MIC, which predicts the evolution of the solar wind ion abundances as they leave the Sun from the source region to the freeze-in point and beyond to Earth; and, (2) directly and quantitatively link in-situ observations from SWICS on board Ulysses with high-resolution measurements of the inner corona from SUMER (onboard SOHO) and EIS (onboard Hinode) of the same parcel of solar wind observed during SOHO/Ulysses and SOHO/Hinode/Ulysses quadrature. The team will determine the temperature, density and wind velocity profiles that simultaneously fit both types in-situ and remote observations. During this project, the team will: (1) identify charge state ratios to be used for wind source region diagnostics; (2) develop an empirical model of solar wind plasma, which includes electron density, electron temperature, velocity, and element and ion composition as a function of distance; and, (3) determine the source regions of both fast and slow solar wind.