INSPIRE: Modeling the Magnetic Interactions between Stars and Planets

这一INSPIRE(国家科学基金促进跨学科研究和教育的综合支助)项目由数学和物理科学局天文科学司、地球科学局大气和地球空间科学司地球航天科、数学和物理科学局多学科活动办公室以及国际和综合活动办公室共同资助。目前，已通过地面和天基天文技术发现了1800多个太阳系以外的已确认行星系统(即太阳系外行星或系外行星)，另有3600个候选系统有待确认。最近的这些发现导致与系外行星研究有关的研究急剧增长，最终目标是发现和表征地球大小的宜居系统。该项目的主要目标是提高我们对恒星与其行星之间相互作用的了解，特别是磁场的作用，以最终提供有关系外行星系统宜居性的信息。该项目的目标与INSPIRE项目的跨学科目标特别匹配。首先，该项目将解决一个对广大科学界具有重要意义的问题，即宜居系外行星的特征和识别。其次，这项研究将提供对太阳与太阳系行星相互作用的更好理解。此外，该项目在寻找宇宙其他地方的生命方面有可能产生重大的社会影响。这一跨学科项目将把空间物理界的技术和方法应用于系外行星的传统天体物理研究领域。该项目团队在对地球等岩石行星以及木星和土星等气体巨星的磁层进行计算建模方面拥有丰富的专业知识。他们将把他们的磁层代码与现有的日光层磁流体力学(MHD)模型结合起来，以模拟太阳风与行星磁层的相互作用。该项目的一个关键方面是将这些组合模型应用于更广泛的恒星-行星相互作用类别，方法是对模型进行缩放，以模拟广泛的恒星参数。一旦恒星-行星相互作用被建模，然后给出不同水平的恒星活动和行星磁层特征，这些模型将被用于预测广泛系统的无线电发射。然后，这些预测可以用来针对特定的系统，以进一步观察和描述它们的潜在宜居性。

This INSPIRE (Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education) project is jointly funded by the Division of Astronomical Sciences in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, by the Geospace Section of the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences, by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and by the Office of International and Integrative Activities. Currently, more than 1800 confirmed planetary systems beyond our solar system (i.e. extrasolar planets or exoplanets) have been discovered through ground and space-based astronomical techniques, with an additional 3600 candidate systems yet to be confirmed. These recent discoveries have resulted in dramatic growth in research related to the study of exoplanets with the ultimate objective being the discovery and characterization of habitable Earth-sized systems. The primary goal of this project is to improve our understanding of the interactions between stars and their planets, in particular the role of magnetic fields, to ultimately provide information on the habitability of exoplanet systems. The project's objectives are particularly well-matched to the interdisciplinary goals of the INSPIRE program. First, the project will attack a problem of significance to a broad scientific community, namely the characterization and identification of habitable exoplanets. Second, this research will provide an improved understanding of the Sun's interaction with the planets of our solar system. Furthermore, this project has potential for significant societal impact with regards to the search for life elsewhere in the Universe.This interdisciplinary project will apply techniques and methods drawn from the space physics community to the traditionally astrophysical research area of exoplanets. The project team has significant expertise in computational modeling of the magnetospheres of rocky planets like the Earth and gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. They will combine their magnetospheric code with available magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) models of the heliosphere in order to model interactions of the solar wind with planetary magnetospheres. A key aspect of the project is to apply these combined models to a much broader class of star-planet interactions by scaling the models to simulate a wide range of stellar parameters. Once the star-planet interactions are modeled, then given varying levels of stellar activity and planetary magnetospheric characteristics, the models will be used predict radio emission for a wide range of systems. These predictions can then be used to target specific systems for further observation and characterization as to their potential habitability.