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，重点关注太阳系天体的外部等离子体环境，包括地球、火星、外层气体巨行星和彗星。具体而言，该方案侧重于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，以及它们与外部的行星际介质和内部的中性大气的相互作用。该方案将包括四个互动科学主题的观测工作、数据分析和解释以及理论和建模。第一个是对外部气体巨行星木星和土星的研究，这些行星的环境受到行星自转和卫星气体来源的影响，尽管也受到外部太阳系太阳风高度可变的特性的影响。对这些行星的极光的观测，作为这些系统内等离子体动力学的直接指标，将从红外线的地面望远镜和紫外线的哈勃空间望远镜以及卡西尼号航天器上的遥感仪器(如土星)获得。这些将与卡西尼号在土星上获得的现场场和等离子体数据的研究以及随后朱诺号在木星上获得的数据以及理论模型相结合，以实现对这些环境的结构和动力学的全面了解，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非常不同的等离子体环境，在这种环境中，太阳风与这些天体的电离外层大气直接相互作用，而不是与磁化行星的磁层相互作用。在这里，我们最初计划使用来自火星快车任务的无线电探测数据来研究火星电离层，特别是关注未磁化区域和受地壳磁场影响的区域之间的界面。稍后，重点将转移到彗星67P/丘留莫夫-格拉西缅科的彗星环境和罗塞塔测量上，特别是对波过程和等离子体空穴形成的兴趣。该方案的第三和第四个主题分别涉及通过天基和陆基技术探索的地球等离子体环境。在这种情况下，磁层的动力学主要由与太阳风的高度可变的相互作用所主导，这种相互作用主要通过磁层顶的重新连接来实现。这两个方案的一个重要主题分别是行星际磁场向北时磁层和电离层动力学的相关研究，将分别利用星系团、IMAGE、THEMIS和其他航天器以及SuperDARN电离层雷达的数据进行研究。需要研究的表明主要动力过程正在起作用的具体特征包括跨极弧、夜间非亚暴气流爆发和双叶重联导致的磁层质量负荷。地面方案的其他领域包括对超低频波的研究、波注入实验数据的分析、亚暴物理和电离层外流。

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.