Fundamental Plasma Physics of the Solar System: Warwick CFSA Rolling Grant Application

我们请求支持以下三个主题的研究方案：(i)日冕动力学（ii）太阳风湍流和（iii）天体物理学的等离子体现象。定量了解在日冕中起作用的基本物理过程，特别是负责耀斑中能量释放的过程，加热日冕和加速太阳风，不仅对太阳的物理学及其与地球环境的联系至关重要，而且还增强了我们对天体物理等离子体过程的总体认识。例如，日冕是研究三维磁重联的实验室。日冕MHD波与许多动力学直接相关，例如太阳耀斑和喷发；日冕波能够将能量和机械动量从对流区传递到日冕和日球层，并与等离子体不稳定性的发展有关。太阳风的磁雷诺数估计为~ 10^5，原则上是MHD湍流实验室，因此量化其波动对我们理解MHD湍流具有直接意义；它还与我们对日冕加热（我们在太阳风中看到残留的特征）、宇宙射线在日球层的传播以及以太阳风为驱动因素的磁层动力学的理解高度相关。由无碰撞冲击引起的粒子加速，以及热致密物质的物理学，是我们与天体物理学相关的等离子体物理学知识的两个极端边界。对这些过程的定量理解，与观测密切相关，可以再次被视为理解观测到的现象（即宇宙射线和气体巨星的结构）的手段，或者将观测到的现象作为理解新的基本等离子体物理学的强大动力。

We request support for a programme of research within three themes: (i) coronal dynamics (ii) solar wind turbulence and (iii) plasma phenomena for astrophysics. A quantitative understanding of the fundamental physical processes acting in the corona, in particular processes responsible for the energy release in flares, heating the corona and accelerating the solar wind, is essential not only to the physics of the Sun and its connection to the Earth's environment, but it also enhances our knowledge of astrophysical plasmas processes in general. For instance, the corona is a laboratory for studying magnetic reconnection in three dimensions. Coronal MHD waves are of direct relevance to much of the dynamics such as solar flares and eruptions; coronal waves are capable of transferring energy and mechanical momentum from the convection zone into the corona and heliosphere and are associated with the development of plasma instabilities. The solar wind, with magnetic Reynolds number estimated as ~ 10^5 is in principle an MHD turbulence laboratory so that quantifying its fluctuations has direct implications for our understanding of MHD turbulence; it is also highly relevant to our understanding of coronal heating (of which we see a remnant signature in the solar wind), of the propagation of cosmic rays in the heliosphere, and magnetospheric dynamics for which the solar wind is the driver. Particle acceleration by collisionless shocks, and the physics of warm dense matter, are at two extreme boundaries of our knowledge of plasma physics relevant to astrophysics. A quantitative understanding of these processes, closely coupled to observations, can again be seen as either the means to understanding observed phenomena, namely cosmic rays, and the structure of gas giants, or as using the observed phenomena as a strong drive to understanding new fundamental plasma physics.