SHINE: Studies of the Heliospheric Magnetic Field and Slow Solar Wind

首席研究员（PI）计划在11年的太阳黑子周期中，研究太阳磁场逆转过程中缓慢的太阳风和磁通量收支的起源。通过混合数据分析和建模，PI的调查将集中在慢速和快速太阳风之间的边界上。PI将测试一个广泛发表的太阳磁足迹循环模型的预测，在这个模型中，缓慢的太阳风是由等离子体在闭环上的释放引起的。该项目还将利用在当前不寻常的太阳活动最小期所进行的测量来检验开放磁通量在整个太阳活动周期中保持不变的观点。最后，PI将确定太阳上与日冕流带及其延伸到太空的日球层流片无关的区域产生的缓慢太阳风的程度。这项研究解决了太阳和日球层物理跨学科领域的核心问题。这些结果意义重大，因为它们将检验各种现有的假设，这些假设对我们理解日球层磁场的演变和缓慢太阳风的来源有重要影响。所提出的一系列任务也将促进我们对空间天气领域的基本理解，其中更好的空间天气预测将造福社会。该项目将指导学生，并推动一个基于网络的科学交流项目。这些研究目标将通过使用美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心社区协调建模中心获得的全球模型预测来辅助。

The Principal Investigator (PI) plans to investigate the origin of the slow solar wind and the magnetic flux budget as the Sun reverses its field in the course of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Using a blend of data analysis and modeling, the PI's investigation will focus on the boundary between the slow and fast solar wind. The PI will test predictions of a widely published model of magnetic footpoint circulation on the Sun, where slow solar wind arises from the release of plasma on closed loops. This project will also use measurements taken during the current unusual minimum of solar activity to test the idea that open magnetic flux is conserved throughout the course of the solar cycle. Finally, the PI will determine to what degree the slow solar wind arises from regions on the Sun that are not associated with the coronal streamer belt and its extension into space as the heliospheric current sheet. This research addresses problems central to the interdisciplinary fields of solar and heliospheric physics. The results will be significant because they will test various existing hypotheses that have important consequences for our understanding of the evolution of the heliospheric magnetic field and the source of the slow solar wind. The proposed set of tasks will also advance our basic understanding of the space weather domain, in which better space weather predictions will benefit society. The PI will mentor students and promote a web-based program of scientific exchange. These research objectives will be aided by using global model predictions obtained from the Community Coordinated Modeling Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.