Collaborative Research: ANSWERS: Solar Energetic Particles, Solar Neutrons, and a New Space Weather Facility in Hawaii

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This project will measure the most powerful particles emitted by the Sun, i.e., Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) and Solar Neutron Particles (SNPs). These particles pose risks to astronauts and can lead to significant degradation or failure of electronics in space. Monitoring the particles and developing alert systems are important to advance resilience against such space weather hazards. Because SNPs arrive earlier than SEPs, their detection provides several extra minutes of warning for taking action. The project team from the University of Hawaii, University of New Hampshire, and University of Arizona will set up a new space weather (SW) center in Hawaii and deploy a neutron monitor (NM) on the summit of the Haleakala volcano. They will analyze energetic particle data from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station and ground-based NMs. A report on these observations will be made available in real time to global and domestic users. The SW center will also provide extensive outreach programs advancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics expertise, especially among young women and underrepresented groups.This work addresses the causes of ground-level events from SEP events, specifically in the context of propagation and event characteristics. The team will analyze SEP events detected by AMS, employ models for tracking particle propagation in various regions of the heliosphere and Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere, and extend the coverage of the NM network to a station particularly suitable for detecting SNPs and galactic cosmic rays with rigidity cutoff above 13 GV. Comparing direct measurements in space by AMS with those on the ground by NMs will shed light on the atmospheric shower cascades that lead to secondary particle production and probe the validity of different models for nuclear interactions in the low energy range (hundreds of MeV to few GeV) involving iron and light elements up to oxygen. Real-time monitoring data, parameters related to the interplanetary and geomagnetic environment, and space weather alerts will be provided by the SW center. High school students will be engaged in the science through science festivals, visits to the NM detector and working with NM and AMS studies at the SW center. ANSWERS projects advance the nation’s STEM expertise and societal resilience to space weather hazards by filling key knowledge gaps regarding the coupled Sun-Earth system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.