SHINE: Origin and Evolution of Structure in the Solar Wind

首席调查员(PI)将调查太阳附近和地球上太阳风的不连续性，并使用这些结构来研究太阳的磁重联事件。他的团队将对不连续类型进行分类，计算作为太阳风特征和太阳源区域函数的不连续发生频率，并开发预测到达地球的等离子体结构类型的能力。PI的团队将对来自Wind、ACE、Helios-1和Helios-2航天器的高分辨率等离子体和磁场数据进行统计分析，以制定识别太阳风中存在的各种不连续类型的标准。然后，研究小组将使用Wang-Sheeley-Arge(WSA)模型将L1处的太阳风映射回太阳表面，从而确定其星表中每个不连续区域来自哪种类型的太阳表面区域(例如，冕洞中心、日冕洞边缘、小冕洞或活动区)。利用他们的不连续目录，PI的团队将识别等离子体边界和超热电子边界，然后使用在1AU收集的磁场和等离子体数据计算每个边界对之间的磁通量。根据这个流量和计算的太阳风通过时间，他们将估计太阳表面的重联率。这个项目所需的数据可以在网上获取。国际和平研究所期望这一努力能够更好地理解日光层中等离子体结构的起源以及太阳风中的物理过程。该项目将培养一名博士后科学家，研究成果将纳入教育推广计划。

The Principal Investigator (PI) will investigate discontinuities in the solar wind near the Sun and at the Earth, and use these structures to study magnetic reconnection events at the Sun. His team will catalog discontinuity types, calculate discontinuity occurrence frequency as a function of solar wind characteristics and solar source region, and develop a capability to predict the types of plasma structures that arrive at Earth. The PI's team will statistically analyze high-resolution plasma and magnetic field data from the Wind, ACE, Helios-1, and Helios-2 spacecraft to develop criteria to identify the various types of discontinuities existing in the solar wind. The team will then use the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) model to map the solar wind at L1 back to the solar surface, and thus determine from which type of solar-surface region (for example, center of coronal hole, coronal-hole edge, small coronal hole, or active region) each discontinuity in their catalog originated. Using their discontinuity catalog, the PI's team will identify plasma boundaries and suprathermal-electron boundaries, and then calculate the amount of magnetic flux between each boundary pair using magnetic field and plasma data collected at 1 AU. From this amount of flux and the calculated transit time of the solar wind, the will estimate the reconnection rate at the solar surface.The data needed for this project are accessible online. The PI expects this effort to lead to a better understanding of the origin of plasma structure in the heliosphere and the physical processes acting in the solar wind. This project will train a postdoctoral scientist and the research results will be incorporated into an educational outreach program.