Simultaneous Measurements of Coronal Magnetic Field and Plasma Properties with Upgraded CoMP (UCoMP)

太阳是整个日光层物理性质和演化的最终驱动力，由于太阳大气中发生的大规模动力学事件，如耀斑和日冕物质抛射，太阳可能对近地空间环境造成严重扰动。我们的社会正变得越来越依赖技术资产，而这些技术资产可能会直接受到这些所谓的空间天气事件的破坏。因此，预测此类事件的发生对于将其损害降至最低至关重要。此外，关于空间天气的摇篮--太阳大气是如何形成和维持的，人们知之甚少。例如，将太阳大气加热到数百万摄氏度的机制尚不清楚，被称为太阳风的高度电离等离子体的持续向外流动如何被加热和加速也仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。该项目是一项为期四年的努力，目的是对安装在莫纳罗亚太阳观测站的现有日冕仪器进行升级，以扩大可以成像的太阳大气的视野和它可以观测的光谱范围。新的测量将为日冕物质抛射的观测打开一个新的窗口，首次能够对它们的热结构、动力学和演化进行定量研究。此外，它们将帮助提供对整个太阳大气的等离子体动力学、磁力和热力学的连续、长期测量，这是回答有关大气加热和太阳风起源的基本问题所必需的。该项目将由密歇根大学和国家大气研究中心高海拔天文台(HAO)合作实施，各自提供必要的专业知识和经验，以确保项目的成功完成。这项工作的一个重要预期成果是建立一个综合设施，将对太阳大气层和太阳磁场的开创性新观测与尖端理论和诊断工具连接起来，所有这些都将向太阳和空间物理研究界提供。本科生将通过密歇根大学S本科生研究机会计划(UROP)被整合到为期一年的研究项目中，该项目免费。同样，虽然没有资助这个项目，但计划让密歇根大学的研究生在他们的论文中使用这些新的数据和建模工具。目前部署在莫纳罗亚太阳天文台的日冕多通道偏振仪(COMP)，目前部署在莫纳罗亚太阳天文台，它已经常规测量1.05到1.38太阳半径之间的斯托克斯I、Q、U和V参数，将升级为包括多条色球、过渡区和日冕线。具体地说，升级后的COMP仪器将扩大COMP的波长覆盖范围和观察到的波长数量，以包括5,000-11000？范围内的可见光和近红外发射线。UCoMP将观测到的谱线是由0.8-4.0MK温度范围内的静止和活动日冕以及在0.01MK至0.5MK之间加速的日冕活动核心发出的。此外，与现有的CoMP能力相比，一组新的双探测器将使UCoMP具有近两倍的视场和两倍的空间分辨率。作为这项工作的组成部分，将在HAO和密歇根大学建立一个联合数据分配和分析中心，该中心不仅将向空间物理界分发UCoMP的数据，还将向空间物理界分发光谱诊断、数据分析和建模所需的先进工具。

The Sun is the ultimate driver of the physical properties and evolution of the entire Heliosphere, and can cause severe perturbations to the near-Earth space environment due to large-scale dynamic events taking place in the solar atmosphere, such as flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). Our society is becoming increasingly dependent on technological assets that can be directly damaged by these, so-called, Space Weather events. Consequently, predicting the occurrence of such events is of critical importance to minimizing their damage. Also, little is known on how the cradle of Space Weather, the solar atmosphere, is formed and maintained. For example, the mechanisms that heat the atmosphere of the Sun to multi-million degree temperatures are not known, and how the continuous outward stream of highly ionized plasma known as the solar wind is heated and accelerated is also still an open question. This project is a four-year effort to perform an upgrade to an existing corona instrument installed at the solar observatory at Mauna Loa to increase both the field of view of the solar atmosphere that can be imaged and the range of the spectrum that it can observe. The new measurements will open a new window in the observations of CMEs, allowing for the first time quantitative studies of their thermal structure, dynamics and evolution for the first time. In addition, they will help deliver the continuous, long-term measurements of plasma dynamics, magnetism and thermodynamics of the entire solar atmosphere that are needed to answer fundamental questions about the heating of the atmosphere and the origin of the solar wind. The project will be carried out in collaboration between the University of Michigan and the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, each contributing essential expertise and experience to ensure its successful completion. An important expected outcome of the effort is the creation of an integrated facility that will connect groundbreaking new observations of the solar atmosphere and solar magnetic field with cutting-edge theoretical and diagnostic tools, all of which will be made easily and readily available to the solar and space physics research community. Undergraduate students will be integrated into the project on yearlong research projects, through the University of Michigan?s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at no cost to this project. Likewise, while not funded in this project, plans are included for graduate students at the University of Michigan to use these new data and modeling tools for their dissertations.The Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP), a visible light coronagraph and filter polarimeter currently deployed at Mauna Loa Solar Observatory which already routinely measures the Stokes I, Q, U, and V parameters between 1.05 and 1.38 solar radii, will be upgraded to include multiple chromospheric, transition region and coronal lines. Specifically, the Upgraded CoMP (UCoMP) instrument will extend the wavelength coverage and the number of wavelengths observed by CoMP to include visible and near-IR emission lines in the 5000-11000 Å range. The lines that UCoMP will observe are emitted by the quiescent and active corona in the 0.8-4.0 MK temperature range, as well as by the core of accelerating CMEs between 0.01 MK up to ≈0.5 MK. In addition, a new set of dual detectors will enable UCoMP to have nearly twice the FOV and twice the spatial resolution as compared to the existing CoMP capability. As and integral part of this effort, a joint data distribution and analysis center will be built at HAO and the University of Michigan that will distribute to the space physics community not only the data from UCoMP but also the necessary advanced tools for spectroscopic diagnostics, data analysis, and modeling.