SHINE: Using the Solar Wind as a Turbulence Laboratory to Investigate the Role of Intermittency and Shear

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A range of interplanetary studies, including energetic particle acceleration and modulation, are hindered by an incomplete, or misleading understanding of the spectrum of interplanetary turbulence. In this regard, the main purpose of this 3-year SHINE project is to gain a deeper understanding of the nonlinear dynamics that distribute energy throughout the interplanetary spectrum, and the use of the solar wind as a wind tunnel to ask fundamental physics questions pertaining to magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Thus, the main goal of the project is to provide an improved understanding of MHD turbulence, in general, seeding the future application of the project results to other space plasmas. The project will support an undergraduate student at the UNH, and it will promote strong international collaborations for the benefit of advancing space weather research both in the USA and worldwide.This 3-year SHINE project is aimed at continuing the productive and successful research of the project team on the third-moment theory of the turbulence. The third-moment theory of the turbulence in the solar wind provides a tool, which is highly model-independent and can serve as benchmark for modelers. The investigators will continue to expand their research in this area by including wind tunnel data, the anisotropy of the energy-cascade, turbulence between 0.3 and 1 AU, intermittent structures, shear flows, turbulence in downstream shock regions, and expansion effects. The project is directly relevant to the NSF's SHINE program, because it will provide important knowledge about the nature of turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas. Such knowledge is critical for accurate modeling and prediction of the space weather conditions from the solar surface to the Earth and beyond. The research and EPO agenda of this project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research.