A Rolling Grant Programme of Research in Solar-Planetary Physics at the University of Leicester

我们提出了一个基础广泛的太阳-行星物理学研究计划，重点研究太阳系天体的外层等离子体环境，包括地球、火星、外层气体巨行星和彗星。具体而言，方案的中心是在这些环境中发生的动态过程，即这些天体的磁层和电离层，以及它们与外部行星际介质和内部天体中性大气的相互作用。该方案将包括观测工作、数据分析和解释以及四个相互作用的科学主题内的理论和建模。第一个包括对外层气体巨行星木星和土星的研究，它们的环境主要受行星旋转和月球气体源的影响，尽管也受到外层太阳系中高度可变的太阳风的调节。这些行星的极光作为这些系统内等离子体动力学的直接指示器，将通过地面红外望远镜和哈勃太空望远镜的紫外线，以及卡西尼航天器上的遥感仪器（以土星为例）进行观测。这些将与卡西尼号在土星以及朱诺号在木星获得的原位场和等离子体数据的研究结合起来，再加上理论建模，以全面了解这些环境的结构和动力学，这也将为相关系外行星的研究提供信息。第二个科学主题集中在以火星和彗星为例的弱磁化天体的非常不同的等离子体环境上，在这些天体中，太阳风直接与这些天体的电离外层大气相互作用，而不是与磁化行星的磁层相互作用。在这里，我们计划首先利用火星快车任务的无线电探测数据研究火星电离层，特别关注非磁化区域和受地壳磁场影响区域之间的界面。之后，重点将转移到彗星环境和罗塞塔在67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko彗星上的测量，特别感兴趣的是波过程和等离子体腔的形成。方案的第三和第四个主题分别涉及通过天基技术和地面技术探索的地球等离子体环境。在这种情况下，磁层的动力学是由与太阳风的高度可变的相互作用主导的，主要是通过磁层顶的重联来调节的。这两个方案的一个重要主题是在行星际磁场指向北方时（分别）对磁层和电离层动力学的相关研究，将分别利用Cluster、IMAGE、THEMIS和其他航天器以及superdem电离层雷达的数据进行调查。需要研究的具体特征表明，主要的动力过程正在起作用，包括跨极弧、夜侧非亚暴流爆发和双叶重联引起的磁层质量负荷。地面方案的其他领域包括极低频波研究、波注入实验数据分析、亚风暴物理学和电离层外流。

We propose a broadly based programme of research in solar-planetary physics that focuses on the outer plasma environments of solar system bodies, including Earth, Mars, the outer gas giant planets, and comets. Specifically the programme centres on the dynamic processes that occur within these environments, namely the magnetospheres and ionospheres of these bodies, and their interaction with the interplanetary medium on the outside and with the body's neutral atmosphere on the inside. The programme will consist of observational work, data analysis and interpretation, and theory and modelling within four interactive science themes. The first consists of studies of the outer gas-giant planets Jupiter and Saturn whose environments are dominated by the effects of planetary rotation and moon gas sources, though also being modulated by the highly-variable properties of the solar wind in the outer solar system. Observations of the auroras of these planets as direct indicators of plasma dynamics within these systems will be obtained from ground-based telescopes in the infrared and from the Hubble Space Telescope in the ultraviolet, as well as from remote-sensing instruments on the Cassini spacecraft in the case of Saturn. These will be combined with studies of in situ field and plasma data obtained by Cassini at Saturn, and later by Juno at Jupiter, together with theoretical modelling, to achieve a holistic understanding of the structure and dynamics of these environments that will also inform studies of related exoplanets. The second science theme concentrates on the very different plasma environments of weakly magnetised bodies exemplified by Mars and comets, in which the solar wind interacts directly with the ionised outer atmosphere of these bodies, rather than with the magnetospheres in the case of magnetised planets. Here we plan initially to study the Martian ionosphere using radio sounding data from the Mars Express mission, focusing particularly on the interfaces between unmagnetised regions and those influenced by crustal magnetic fields. Later, emphasis will shift toward cometary environments and Rosetta measurements at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with particular interest in wave processes and plasma cavity formation. The third and fourth themes of the programme relate to the Earth's plasma environment, as explored through space-based and ground-based techniques respectively. In this case the dynamics of the magnetosphere are dominated by the highly variable interaction with the solar wind, mediated principally through reconnection at the magnetopause. An important theme in both programmes consists of related studies of magnetospheric and ionospheric dynamics (respectively) when the interplanetary magnetic field is directed northward, to be investigated using data from the Cluster, IMAGE, THEMIS, and other spacecraft, and from the SuperDARN ionospheric radars (respectively). Specific features to be studied that indicate major dynamical processes to be at work include transpolar arcs, nightside non-substorm flow bursts, and magnetospheric mass-loading due to dual-lobe reconnection. Additional areas in the ground-based programme include studies of ULF waves, analysis of wave injection experiment data, substorm physics, and ionospheric outflows.