SHINE Postdoc: Signatures of Heliospheric Topology

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

This study will focus on the physical phenomena that give rise to a signature in the population of solar wind electrons commonly referred to as a "heat flux dropout" (HFD). Understanding what causes HFDs is important because the degree to which magnetic field lines are disconnected from the sun is a diagnostic tool capable of distinguishing between competing models of how the sun's magnetic field reverses over the course of the 22-year solar cycle. A program of data analysis and theory will be performed. A survey of HFD data from the Wind spacecraft will provide a base for statistical studies of HFD frequency and morphology in the context of solar wind structures. A complementary collaborative theoretical study will address the question of whether pitch-angle isotropy in the HFDs is attributable to instabilities sensitive to the plasma beta, independent of variations in the total flux.