Solar Wind and Cosmic Rays

Physics 954Eberhard Möbius

PHYSICS 954

Solar Wind and Cosmic Rays

Spring Semester 2001

Instructor:Prof. Eberhard Möbius

Physics Department and

Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space

Office:Morse Hall, Room 407

Phone 862-3097

Office hours:Tu, We, Fr 1100 – 1200 am

Course Materials:Book: May-Britt Kallenrode, Space Physics, Springer Verlag, Berlin, New-York, 1998.

On Reserve in Physics Library:

-Books according to bibliography

-Folders with relevant papers

-Folder with Lecture Notes (to be updated during course)

WWW Page

Grading:Based on:

A) Homework≈ every 2 weeks (≈7)20%

B) Class Participationincludes discussion of one homework10%

C) Presentationteaching of one class15%

D) Term Paperabout topic of class presentation20%

E) Midterm Exam15%

F) Final Exam20%

Term PaperDraft due: Monday, April 9(15%)

after conferenceRev. due: Friday, May 11(5%)

Midterm Exam:Friday, March 9

Syllabus

The solar wind provides a very versatile laboratory to study the physics of interacting plasmas and the transport and acceleration of particles in space. The acceleration of the hot corona to a supersonic wind and its interaction with the interstellar neighborhood is a basic example for the surroundings of stars. Wherever the supersonic solar wind runs into obstacles the formation of shock waves: at planetary magnetospheres and comets, in the transition from high to low speed solar wind, at coronal mass ejections, and at the heliospheric boundary. Shock waves are known as very efficient particle accelerators in the cosmos. A wide variety of them can be studied in-situ within the solar system itself. The populations of particles, which are accelerated in interplanetary space, range from the solar wind proper, via particles from the planetary and cometary environments to the interstellar gas. In addition, particles accelerated at the sun during solar flares and cosmic rays from outside the heliosphere have to be considered. We will include the discussion of the instrumentation necessary to study these phenomena experimentally.

0. Introduction

Goals

Grading

Overview

I. Solar Wind and Interplanetary Magnetic Field

Solar Wind

Historic overview

Solar atmosphere and static corona

Supersonic expansion of the solar wind (heating, heat transport)

Interplanetary Magnetic Field

One Fluid Magnetohydrodynamics

Magnetic field topology (transport of magnetic flux)

Angular momentum transport

MHD Waves

Sound waves

Alfvèn waves

Interaction with Obstacles (Planets, comets, etc.)

Shock Waves

Rankine-Hugoniot relations

Magnetized shocks

Bow shocks, Heliospheric termination shock

II. Plasma Instrumentation:Low Energy Particles and Fields

Observation Requirements

Measurement parameters

Particle Instruments

Faraday cup

Electrostatic analyzer

Mass Spectrometers

Time-of-flight

Neutral atom instruments

Field Instruments

Magnetometer

Electric field instruments

Double probe
Electron drift method

III. Interaction of the Interstellar Medium with the Heliosphere

Solar wind neutral gas interaction

Observations

Sources of the neutral gas and their ionization

Pickup process

Transport of Particles in Interplanetary Space

Diffusion

Convection

Adiabatic deceleration

Focusing effects

Modeling of interstellar gas in the solar system

Interstellar neutral gas distribution in the heliosphere

Diagnostics of the local interstellar medium

Boundary of the heliosphere

Size of the heliosphere

Termination shock

IV. Cosmic Ray Instruments:Energetic Particles

Observation Requirements

Measurement parameters

Extension of Low Energy Techniques

Electrostatic analyzer

Time-of-flight

Limitations

Energy loss in matter

Coulomb interaction

Partial ionization

dE/dx versus E detectors

Energetic Particle Detectors

Solid state detectors

Proportional counters

Szintillators

The Earth’s Magnetic Field as a Spectrometer

V. Transport and Acceleration of Charged Particles

Interplanetary Particle Populations

Solar energetic particles

Bow shock particles

Interplanetary accelerated particles

Anomalous component of cosmic rays

Transport Equations

Basic processes and their derivation

Transport and acceleration effects

Shock Acceleration

Observations at the Earth’s bow shock

Reflection and shock drift acceleration

Diffusive acceleration

Wave-particle interaction

Shock simulations

Interplanetary shocks

VI. Solar Energetic Particles

Observation of Solar Energetic Particles

Spectra and time profiles

Composition

Charge state

Particle Sources

Sun

Coronal mass ejections

Solar energetic particle event classification

Magnetic Reconnection

Steady state reconnection

Diffusive and explosive processes

Particle Acceleration

Electric fields

Shock acceleration

Selective processes

VII. Other Energetic Particles Sources

Galactic Cosmic Rays

Observations

Sources

Anomalous Cosmic Rays

Interstellar gas particles

Acceleration at the termination shock

Transport processes

Bibliography

More general books

Brandt, J.C., Introduction to the Solar Wind, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1970, Solar wind physics, includes some instrumentation, QB505.B72 R

Hundhausen, A., Coronal Expansion and Solar Wind,Classical Introduction to Solar Wind, Q R

Kallenrode, M.B., Space Physics, An Introduction to Plasmas and Particles in the Heliosphere and Magnetospheres, Springer-Verlag, Berlin New-York, 1998; Introductory text to heliospheric physics (selected course text) R

Kirk, J.G., D.B. Melrose, E.R. Priest, Plasma Astrophysics, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1994, MHD, Transport, Acceleration, QB462.7.K57 R

Kivelson, M.G., C.T. Russell, Introduction to Space Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1995, MHD, Solar Wind, Magnetosphere, Shocks, Acceleration R

Instrumentation

Pfaff, R., J. Borowski, D. Young, eds., Measurement Techniques in Space Plasmas, AGU Monograph 102 and 103, 1998; First compilation of space plasma physics instrumentation R

Solar Wind

Schwenn, R., E. Marsch, Physics of the Inner Heliosphere
(Large Scale Phenomena), 1, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991, Solar Wind, IMF, QC801.P46.v.20 R

Schwenn, R., E. Marsch, Physics of the Inner Heliosphere
(Particles, Waves and Turbulence), 2, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991, Solar Wind, Waves, Cosmic Rays, QC801.P46.v.21 R

Individual Articles:

Isenberg, P.A., The Solar Wind, Geomagnetism, 4, 1, 85, 1991, Recent ReviewR

Mariani, F., F.M. Neubauer, The Interplanetary Magnetic Field
(Large Scale Phenomena), Physics of the Inner Heliosphere, 1, 183, 206, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991, QC801.P46.v.20

Interstellar Gas - Heliosphere

Grzedzielski, S., D.E. Page, eds., Physics of the Outer Heliosphere, COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1, Pergamon Press, 1990, Recent Conference R

Von Steiger, R., R. Lallement, M. A. Lee, eds., The Heliosphere in the Local interstellar Medium, Space Science Series of ISSI, Kluwer Publ., 1996, Recent Review from a Conference about the local environment of the solar system R

Scherer, H. Fichtner, E. Marsch eds., To the boundaries of the heliosphere and beyond, The Outer Heliosphere: Beyond the Planets; K. Copernicus Gesellschaft e.V., 2000, Recent Summer School of the German Physical Society (R)

Individual Articles:

Axford, W.I., Introductory Lecture - The Heliosphere, Physics of the Outer Heliosphere, COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1, 7, 15, Pergamon Press, 1990.

Lallement, R., Scattering of Solar UV on Local Neutral Gas, Physics of the Outer Heliosphere, COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1, 49, 59, Pergamon Press, 1990, UV Measurements of Interstellar Gas

Möbius, E., The Interaction of Interstellar Pick-up Ions with the Solar Wind - Probing the Interstellar Medium by In-Situ Measurements, Physics of the Outer Heliosphere, COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1, 345, 354, Pergamon Press, 1990, Pickup Ion Measurements of Interstellar Gas

Cosmic Rays and Acceleration

Zank, G., T.K. Gaisser, Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc. , 264, American Institute of Physics, New York, 1991; Particle Acceleration in the heliosphere and other places in the cosmos R

Individual Articles:

Blandford, R.D., Particle Acceleration Mechanisms, Astrophys. J., Suppl., 90, 515, 520, 1994.

Jokipii, J.R., Diffusive Shock Acceleration: Acceleration Rate, Magnetic Field Direction and Diffusion Limit, Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc. , 264, 137, 147, American Institrute of Physics, New York, 1991.

Jokipii, J.R., The Anomalous Component of Cosmic Rays, Physics of the Outer Heliosphere, COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1, 169, 178, Pergamon Press, 1990, Particle Acceleration at the Heliospheric Boundary

Jones, F., A Review of Transport Theory, Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc., 264, 71, 78, American Institute of Physics, New York, 1991.

Jones, F.C., A Theoretical Review of Diffusive Shock Acceleration, Astrophys. J., Suppl., 90, 561, 566, 1994.

Jones, F.C., D.C. Ellison, The Plasma Physics of Shock Acceleration, Space Science Reviews, 58, 259, 346, 1991, Recent Review on Shocks and Acceleration

Kunow, H., G. Wibberenz, G. Green, R. Müller-Mellin, M.-B. Kallenrode, Energetic Particles in the Inner Solar System
(Waves, Turbulence, Particles), Physics of the Inner Heliosphere, 2, 243, 342, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991, QC801.P46.v.21

Lee, M., Particle Acceleration in the Heliosphere, Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc. , 264, 27, 44, American Institute of Physics, New York, 1991

McKibben, R.B., Cosmic Rays in the Local Interstellar Medium, Physics of the Outer Heliosphere, COSPAR Colloquia Series, 1, 107, 118, Pergamon Press, 1990.

Reames, D.V., Particle Acceleration in Solar Flares: Observations, Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc., 264, 213, 222, American Institute of Physics, New York, 1991.

Scholer, M., Microphysics and Structure of Quasi-Parallel Shocks: Observations, Theory, and Implications for Particle Acceleration, Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasmas, AIP Conf. Proc., 264, 125, 136, American Institute of Physics, New York, 1991.

Terasawa, T., M. Scholer, The Heliosphere as an Astrophysical Laboratory for Particle Acceleration, Science, 244, 1050, 1057, 1989. R

In Italics: This is emphasized in the book/article

R: This book/article is on reserve; (R) on order

Add:

Reames Review

ISSI book on CIRs

02.10.20181