Solar Wind Streamer Belt Morphology

研究人员将努力了解太阳大气中被称为流光带的区域。主要工作是应用新的工具来分析太阳风中日冕物质抛射的拓扑结构和太阳风中流带的主要残余物——日球层电流片的局部结构。在全球范围内，电流片形成了一个倾斜、扭曲的日球赤道面，但在局部范围内发现的数据模式与卷曲、缠绕的磁结构一致。用于解开这种结构的工具将与新的工具相结合，以分析其他拖缆带结构及其相互关系。新工具中最主要的将是成分数据，它可以提供太阳来源的指纹。预期的结果将促进我们对太阳风最复杂部分的来源和结构的理解。一些悬而未决的问题是：慢流在多大程度上来自日冕洞的边缘，来自流带本身，还是以多尺度瞬变的形式？慢风中的复杂结构在多大程度上可以归因于行星际过程，而不是太阳起源？在慢风中发现的许多类型的结构的磁性拓扑结构是什么？如果日冕物质抛射的起源是在流带中，为什么在快速流动的侵入中观测到日冕物质抛射有日冕洞的成分指纹？日冕物质抛射是否逐渐从磁性封闭结构演变为开放结构？根据最近提出的太阳磁场足点总环流模型，这些问题的答案能在多大程度上得到解决？该模型要求流带中开放和封闭的磁场线无处不在地合并。除基础研究外，还将编写一本手册，作为一项公共宣传项目。它的主要目的是提供指导方针，以便向公众宣传日冕物质抛射如何导致地磁风暴。在外行读者可以理解的术语中，它将指出常见的误解，并提供不误导的引人注目的描述材料。这本手册不仅适合出版，而且可以作为日地物理入门课程的补充教材。

The investigators will work towards an understanding of the region of the solar atmosphere known as the streamer belt. The main effort is to apply new tools to analyze the topology of coronal mass ejections in the solar wind and the local structure of the principal remnant of the streamer belt in the solar wind, the heliospheric current sheet. On a global scale the current sheet forms a tilted, warped, heliospheric equatorial plane, but data patterns consistent with convoluted, intertwined magnetic structures are found on the local scale. Tools used to untangle this structure will be combined with newer tools to analyze other streamer belt structures and their interrelationships. Primary among the newer tools will be composition data, which give fingerprints of solar sources. The anticipated results will advance our understanding of the sources and structure of the most complicated part of the solar wind. Some of the open questions are: To what extent does slow flow come from the edges of the coronal holes, from the streamer belt proper, or in the form of multiscale transients? To what extent can complex structures in the slow wind be ascribed to interplanetary processes rather than to solar origins? What are the magnetic topologies of the many types of structures identified in the slow wind? Why do coronal mass ejections observed as intrusions in fast flow have composition fingerprints of coronal holes if their origins are in the streamer belt? Do coronal mass ejections gradually evolve from magnetically closed to open structures? To what extent can answers to these questions be resolved in terms of a recently proposed model of general circulation of the footpoints of solar magnetic fields, which requires ubiquitous merging between open and closed field lines in the streamer belt? In addition to basic research, a handbook will be prepared as a public outreach project. Its primary purpose will be to provide guidelines for communicating to the public how coronal mass ejections can cause geomagnetic storms. In terms intelligible to the lay reader, it will point out common misconceptions and provide material for attention-grabbing descriptions that do not misinform. The handbook will be suitable not only for the press but for use as supplemental educational material for introductory courses in solar-terrestrial physics.