Heliophysics Decadal Survey
White Paper Concepts
The purpose of this site is to allow members of the heliophysics science community to inform one another of intent to submit a white paper as part of the solar and space physics decadal survey. These white paper concepts are for the decadal survey itself and are not for the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop; the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop submissions will not be ported to this webpage.
This site is for information only and is not part of the National Academies' activities. Listing a white paper concept here does not commit the author to submitting a white paper to the Decadal Survey, and an individual is not required to list a white paper here in order to submit it for the Decadal Survey.
Note: When submitting a white paper concept, if you are inviting feedback or input from interested community members, please end your white paper summary with “REQUESTED INPUT: [description]” and any additional contact information.
Submit a white paper conceptAdditional Information:
- NASA Heliophysics Division Decadal Survey page
- Heliophysics Mission Concept Studies solicitation
- Heliophysics 2050 Workshop and iPoster Gallery
- Heliophysics Division website
Please refer any questions to [email protected].
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Science (including enabling measurements)
Solar science
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Description
Authorship
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Machine learning as a key approach for solar event monitoringDescription Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision have emerged as key component for the monitoring of solar events, from flares to coronal jets. In this white paper, we briefly discuss the current body of literature in this area and propose future areas of development, which include state-of-the-art models and smart big data applications that incorporate domain-specific knowledge.Authorship Thomas Y. ChenContact Thomas Chen ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Weather Operations and the need for Multiple Heliosphere Observational Vantage PointsDescription Over the past decade, the public and the scientific community have grown to appreciate the potential impact of space weather. NASA’s recent Moon to Mars initiative highlights space weather's potential impact to humans traveling beyond LEO orbit. Successful completion of this endeavor demands improvements in the real-time space environment monitoring, analysis, modeling capabilities, and the communications of radiation risks. We have identified data essential to enable these improvements, and in this paper describe current gaps in these data and the impacts to space weather operations. We highlight the community and interagency efforts needed to establish multiple observational vantage points and facilitate improved nowcast and forecast capabilities.Authorship Y. Collado-Vega, R. Steenburgh, A. Halford, A. Pulkkinen, D. Biesecker, L. Upton, P. Quinn, A. Pevtsov, C. Lee, K. Whitman, R. Nikoukar, J. Barzilla, M. Cook, J. B. Parham, R. Loper, B. L. Alterman, D. JhaContact Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The convective conundrum – a roadblock to solar and stellar dynamo modelsDescription There is a critical mismatch between observations and models of convective motions on the Sun. Photospheric observations indicate that power drops of monotonically for scales larger than supergranulation. Models indicate the exact opposite, with power increasing out to the largest scales captured by the domain. Moreover, helioseismic determinations of convective amplitudes in the solar interior are conflicting, and the causes underlying their differences are unknown. Rotational influences on convection determine the global scale motions within a star, and these in turn govern the behavior of a star’s global-scale magnetic dynamo. Without accurate models of stellar convection, models of stellar dynamos are premature and highly uncertain. This in turn makes firm deductions about stellar environments and exoplanetary habitability nearly impossible. There are several possible reasons for the mismatch between convective amplitudes in observations and models. These include errors in the mean stratification of the convective envelops due to numerical dissipation, the unaccounted for influence of small-scale magnetic fields, or improper radiative heating of the deep convection zone. These can limit the role of small scale flows in heat transport and amplify that of large scale flows, shifting the importance of rotational constraints. Careful modeling and observational efforts should be focused on this problem. Resolving of the differences between helioseismic observations and pushing the limit to which helioseismology can observationally constrain the mean entropy gradient of the solar interior are both essential. Assessing model sensitivities to computational limitations and physical processes is critical, on the scale of full solar convection zone models, in order to ultimately construct reliable models of stellar envelopes that cannot be as readily observationally constrained.Authorship Mark Rast, Axel Brandenburg, Ben Brown, Nick Featherstone, Shravan Hanasoge, Brad Hindman, Hideyuki Hotta, Loren Matilsky, Matthias Rempel, Juri ToomreContact Mark Rast ([email protected]) |
Heliospheric science
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Authorship
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Expanding the Realm of Solar & Space Physics: Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Local Interstellar MediumDescription During its evolutionary journey through the galaxy, the Sun and its protective heliosphere have encountered widely different environments that have all helped form the system we live in, and soon our star will enter a completely new region of interstellar space. The orders-of-magnitude varying properties of interstellar plasma and gas are responsible for an extreme range of sizes and shapes of the global heliosphere throughout its history. This, in turn, has had dramatic consequence for the penetration interstellar dust and galactic cosmic rays that have affected several crucial aspects of elemental and isotopic abundances, atmospheric evolution and conditions for habitability. Despite the importance for the heliosphere and other astrospheres, the interaction mechanisms at the heliospheric boundary could not be understood by the limited Voyager payloads and represent a new regime of space physics. At the same time, the lack of direct access to pristine interstellar material has prevented progress in understanding the physics of the interstellar clouds and galactic evolution. A new science frontier awaits heliophysics by exploring the outer heliosphere, its boundary and beyond out to 400-1000 AU, a region now being made accessible within realistic mission design lifetimes by the increasing availability of large launch vehicles.Authorship Brandt, P. C. + 88 co-authorsContact Pontus C. Brandt ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Properties around the Heliospheric InterfaceDescription The recommendation of this white paper is to support development and deployment-to-space of a high-resolution spectrograph in order to distinguish the three populations of H atoms that directly interact at the interface of the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind is subsonic. A required resolution of 3 – 10 km/s at H Lyman- would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM), inner and outer heliosheath populations, and enable characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1 – 1000 AU. This new science would directly complement the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, New Horizons, and Interstellar Probe mission observations. The scientific yield would directly support NASA goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth; how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium; and determining what boundaries of the heliosphere look like.Authorship Majd Mayyasi, John Clarke, Eric Quémerais, Olga Katushkina, Vlad Izmodenov, Elena Provornikova, Justyna Sokół,, Pontus Brandt, André Galli, Merav Opher, Marc Kornbleuth, Jeff Linsky, Brian WoodContact Majd Mayyasi ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Weather Operations and the need for Multiple Heliosphere Observational Vantage PointsDescription Over the past decade, the public and the scientific community have grown to appreciate the potential impact of space weather. NASA’s recent Moon to Mars initiative highlights space weather's potential impact to humans traveling beyond LEO orbit. Successful completion of this endeavor demands improvements in the real-time space environment monitoring, analysis, modeling capabilities, and the communications of radiation risks. We have identified data essential to enable these improvements, and in this paper describe current gaps in these data and the impacts to space weather operations. We highlight the community and interagency efforts needed to establish multiple observational vantage points and facilitate improved nowcast and forecast capabilities.Authorship Y. Collado-Vega, R. Steenburgh, A. Halford, A. Pulkkinen, D. Biesecker, L. Upton, P. Quinn, A. Pevtsov, C. Lee, K. Whitman, R. Nikoukar, J. Barzilla, M. Cook, J. B. Parham, R. Loper, B. L. Alterman, D. JhaContact Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega ([email protected]) |
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Title Synergies between interstellar dust and heliosphere science with interstellar probeDescription Interstellar dust moves through the heliosphere or is deflected around it, depending on dust particle properties (size, charge, etc.) and environment properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.). The dust flowing through the heliosphere changes flow dynamics depending on the phase in the solar cycle. Measuring and simulating interstellar dust flows through the heliosphere, and measuring and MHD-modeling of the heliosphere properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.) are complementary and are a unique chance to use two different fields (interstellar dust + heliosphere) in synergy to gain more knowledge about physical processes in the heliosphere and astrospheres.Authorship Veerle Sterken, Seth Redfield, Jon Slavin, Andre Galli, Casey Lisse, Kostas Dialynas, Merav OpherContact Veerle Sterken ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The potential of the Interstellar Probe for measuring in-situ interstellar neutralsDescription A near-term Interstellar Probe would enable in-situ measurements of the interstellar medium all the way from the Earth to the heliosheath and beyond the reaches of the heliopause. These revolutionary measurements would reveal how the interstellar medium is filtrated and deflected by our heliosphere and the chemical and isotopical composition of the unperturbed interstellar medium itself.Authorship Andre Galli, Seth Redfield, Elena Provornikova, Harald Kucharek, Paweł Swaczyna, Justyna M. Sokół, Marzena A. Kubiak, Ben L. AltermanContact Andre Galli ([email protected]) |
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Title The role of kappa distributions in Space ThermodynamicsDescription Classical collisional particle systems residing in thermal equilibrium have their particle velocity/energy distribution function stabilized into a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. On the contrary, space plasmas are collisionless particle systems residing in stationary states characterized by a non-Maxwellian behavior, typically described by kappa distributions. These distributions have become increasingly widespread across the physics of space plasma processes, describing particles in the heliosphere, from the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres to the heliosheath and beyond, the interstellar and intergalactic plasmas. A breakthrough in the field came with the connection of kappa distributions with statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, (i) maximize the entropy of nonextensive statistical mechanics under the constraints of canonical ensemble, (ii) characterize particle systems exchanging heat with each other eventually stabilized at a non-classical version of thermal equilibrium, and (iii) constitute the unique description of particle energies consistent with polytropic behavior.Authorship George LivadiotisContact George Livadiotis ([email protected]) |
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Title What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar MediumDescription What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar Medium Jeffrey L. Linsky1 and Seth Redfield2 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA 2Astronomy Department and Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459-0123, USA ABSTRACT Our understanding of the outer heliosphere is becoming clearer from direct measurements by the Voyager spacecraft and theoretical models, but what lies beyond the heliopause in the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) and beyond in the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) is a new frontier of heliospheric research. This white paper for the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop describes critical questions concerning the plasma and magnetic field and physical processes in the VLISM and LISM. 1. THE PRESENT PICTURE The heliosphere is the interface between our solar system and the rest of the galaxy. Measurements using both heliospheric and astronomical techniques are required to fully understand the physical interactions and morphology of this interface. Measurements from both perspectives are needed to apply out knowledge of the heliosphere to analogous structures around other nearby stars, many of which host habitable planets, and to evaluate how the heliosphere has evolved and influenced the habitability of solar system planets. The Voyagers passed the termnation shock (TS) at 94 AU (V1) and 84 AU (V2) and traversed the heliopause (HP) at 122 AU (V1) and 119 AU (V2). Beyond the HP, interstellar plasma is modified by the inclusion of pickup ions and anomalous cosmic rays created in the TS and heliosheath that leak into the VLISM through the HP. This region was called the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) by Zank (2015). Inside the VLISM, charge exchange reactions between inflowing hydrogen atoms and energetic solar wind protons create the “hydrogen wall” (HW) where hydrogen atoms are piled up (increased density), heated, and slowed down relative to the inflow speed of neutral hydrogen from the pristine LISM. Hydrogen wall absorption in the Lyman-α line measures solar or stellar mass-loss rates. Figure 1 shows a heliosphere model where the HW is seen as a neutral hydrogen density enhancement outside of the HP. In models by Zank et al. (2013), the maximum density in the HW occurs near 300 AU and extends outward to 400–600 AU depending on the local magnetic field strength. The only direct measurements of the inflowing VLISM gas are the neutral helium atoms that penetrate the heliosphere relatively unscathed by charge exchange reactions and neutral hydrogen atoms modified by charge exchange reactions and identified by backscattered Lyman-α radiation. Beyond the VLISM, perhaps 500–700 AU from the Sun, is the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) for which there are no direct measurements. We have only a crude understanding of the LISM based only on theory and remote measurements. 2. VLISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Models of the HWand VLISM computed with a MHD plasma – kinetic hydrogen code by 2 Figure 1. The heliosphere model computed by Richardson & Stone (2009). The top half shows the temperature structure. The bottom half shows the neutral hydrogen density. The HW is between 200 and 250 AU in the upwind direction. Zank et al. (2013) show that the VLISM magnetic field plays a critical role in determining (i) whether the decelerating LISM plasma has a bow shock or a bow wave, (ii) the amount of heating in the VLISM, and (iii) the neutral H column density density in the HW. Absorption in the Lyman-α line is best described by their model with a VLISM magnetic field of 3 μG, the same value inferred from observations of the IBEX ribbon (Zirnstein et al 2016). Other processes, known and unknown, shape the VLISM plasma. For example, pickup ions produced near the TS and accelerated ions (anomalous cosmic rays) dominate the heliosheath pressure. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) estimate the total pressure just beyond the HP by balancing the total pressure on both sides of the HP. They estimate that the total gas pressure pressure just beyond the HP as P(tot)/k = 25, 855 Kcm−3, whereas the total gas and magnetic pressure in the inner LISM is only 5,565 Kcm−3 (Frisch et al. 2011), a factor of 4–5 times smaller. To balance the total pressure, the magnetic field just outside of the HP should be about 8 μG, which is far larger than measured by V1 and somewhat larger than measured by V2. On this basis V1 and V2 have not yet have crossed the HP. Direct measurements of the thermal and nonthermal plasma and magnetic fields are needed to understand the VLISM and test the models. In particular, we need to know how far out solar energetic neutrals and ions extend and the length scales for charge exchange and thermalization processes in order to determine where the VLISM ends and the pristine LISM begins. 3. LISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Absorption line measurements of interstellar gas in the sightlines to nearby stars are the primary data set used to construct models of the LISM. Analysis of HST ultraviolet spectra yield line of sight average measurements of elemental abundances, ionization states, and velocity structure between the Sun and stars. Redfield & Linsky identified 15 clouds in the LISM by common velocity vectors towards stars. Each of these clouds has a mean temperature of 5,000–10,000 K. Linsky et al. (2019) showed that four clouds (see Figure 2) are very near the outer heliosphere. Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) absorption covers less than half the sky, indicating that the gas entering the VLISM and heliosphere may be at the edge LIC with somewhat different properties than in the LIC center. The neutral hydrogen density in the LIC had been estimated to be 0.195 cm−3 (Slavin & Frisch 2008) or about 0.12 cm−3 on the basis V2 and Cassini/INCA measurements (Dialynas et al. 2019). However, these are rough estimates of the mean hydrogen density in only one of the LISM clouds. Direct measurements of neutrals, electrons, and ions are needed to study the properties of the LISM. 3 Figure 2. Morphologies of the four partially ionized LISM clouds that are near the outer heliosphere: the LIC (red), which lies in front of ǫ Eri (3.2 pc), the G cloud (brown), which lies in front of α Cen (1.32 pc), the Blue cloud (dark blue), which lies in front of Sirius (2.64 pc), and the Aql cloud (green), which lies in front of 61 Cyg (3.5 pc). The plot is in Galactic coordinates with the Galactic Center direction in the center. The LIC upwind direction is indicated by the circled-cross symbol near l = 15◦ and b = +20◦, and the upwind directions of the other clouds have similar marks. The heliosphere is now exiting the LIC in the direction of the neighboring G cloud. Upper limits on the amount of interstellar Mg II absorption in this direction predict that the heliosphere will leave the LIC in less than 1900 years and perhaps this year. This would be a major event. Will the heliosphere directly enter the G cloud or a photoionized boundary layer with little neutral hydrogen? The size of the heliosphere and the composition of its plasma will change in either scenario. The EUVE satellite discovered that the star ǫ CMa (ecliptic coordinates λ = 111◦, β = −51◦ and distance 124 pc) is the the brightest source of extreme-UV radiation. EUV photons from ǫ CMa produce a very large photoionized region (called a Str¨omgren sphere) that surrounds the LISM warm clouds and the partially ionized Str¨omgren shells on the outer regions of the LISM clouds. EUV radiation from ǫ CMa photoionizes neutral hydrogen producing very low neutral hydrogen column density in this direction called the “hydrogen hole”. The role of photoionization must be tested. Magnetic fields will be important in shaping the morphology of clouds if the magnetic pressure exceeds the gas pressure, which would occur if BLISM > 3μG. Stronger magnetic fields just beyond the HP observed by V2 (Dialynas et al.(2019) suggest that magnetic fields may dominate the pressure in the LISM clouds. The very low density plasma in the LISM may include non-thermal particles that dominate the total pressure. Supernovae in the nearby Scorpio-Centaurus Association have occured as recently as a few million years ago and their shock waves produced high ionization in the LISM that may still be recombining. The ram pressure of supernovae shocks can dominate other sources of pressure in the simulations of Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002). Recent models of the velocity distribution of plasma in the outer heliosphere include non-thermal components (Swaczya et al. 2019). Future analysis of LISM absorption line profiles should test for high velocity tails using kappa distributions. The relative importance of these and potentially other sources of ionization and morphology in the LISM need to be understood. Direct measurements of thermal and non-thermal plasma and magnetic fields can accomplish this. References: Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002) Astron. Astrphys. 390, 299. Dialynas et al. (2019) Geophys. Res. Let. 46, 7911. Frisch et al. (2011) ARAA 49, 237. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) ApJ 833, 290. Linsky et al. (2019) ApJ 886, 41. Redfield & Linsky (2008) ApJ 673, 283. Richardson & Stone (2009) Space Sci. Rev 143, 7. Swaczyna et al. (2019) ApJ 871, 254. Zank et al. (2013) ApJ 763, 20. Zirnstein et al. (2016) ApJ 818, L18.Authorship Jeffrey L. Linsky and Seth RedfieldContact Jeffrey Linsky ([email protected]) |
Magnetospheric science
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The role of kappa distributions in Space ThermodynamicsDescription Classical collisional particle systems residing in thermal equilibrium have their particle velocity/energy distribution function stabilized into a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. On the contrary, space plasmas are collisionless particle systems residing in stationary states characterized by a non-Maxwellian behavior, typically described by kappa distributions. These distributions have become increasingly widespread across the physics of space plasma processes, describing particles in the heliosphere, from the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres to the heliosheath and beyond, the interstellar and intergalactic plasmas. A breakthrough in the field came with the connection of kappa distributions with statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, (i) maximize the entropy of nonextensive statistical mechanics under the constraints of canonical ensemble, (ii) characterize particle systems exchanging heat with each other eventually stabilized at a non-classical version of thermal equilibrium, and (iii) constitute the unique description of particle energies consistent with polytropic behavior.Authorship George LivadiotisContact George Livadiotis ([email protected]) |
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Title Towards a Better Understanding of the Causes and Consequences of Geomagnetic Perturbations in 2050Description Disturbances in the magnetic field at the Earth’s surface are at the center of Heliophysics and Space Weather research: remote sensing magnetosphere-ionosphere current systems, construction of geomagnetic indices used for space weather forecasts and model validation, monitoring of geoelectric fields and related Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC). The purpose of this white paper is to highlight future research, instrumentation, and community/inter-agency efforts that are needed to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of these perturbations.Authorship Michael Hartinger +10 co-authorsContact Michael Hartinger ([email protected]) |
ITM science
Title
Description
Authorship
Contact
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title Towards a Better Understanding of the Causes and Consequences of Geomagnetic Perturbations in 2050Description Disturbances in the magnetic field at the Earth’s surface are at the center of Heliophysics and Space Weather research: remote sensing magnetosphere-ionosphere current systems, construction of geomagnetic indices used for space weather forecasts and model validation, monitoring of geoelectric fields and related Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC). The purpose of this white paper is to highlight future research, instrumentation, and community/inter-agency efforts that are needed to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of these perturbations.Authorship Michael Hartinger +10 co-authorsContact Michael Hartinger ([email protected]) |
Interdisciplinary/system science
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Description
Authorship
Contact
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Title Expanding the Realm of Solar & Space Physics: Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Local Interstellar MediumDescription During its evolutionary journey through the galaxy, the Sun and its protective heliosphere have encountered widely different environments that have all helped form the system we live in, and soon our star will enter a completely new region of interstellar space. The orders-of-magnitude varying properties of interstellar plasma and gas are responsible for an extreme range of sizes and shapes of the global heliosphere throughout its history. This, in turn, has had dramatic consequence for the penetration interstellar dust and galactic cosmic rays that have affected several crucial aspects of elemental and isotopic abundances, atmospheric evolution and conditions for habitability. Despite the importance for the heliosphere and other astrospheres, the interaction mechanisms at the heliospheric boundary could not be understood by the limited Voyager payloads and represent a new regime of space physics. At the same time, the lack of direct access to pristine interstellar material has prevented progress in understanding the physics of the interstellar clouds and galactic evolution. A new science frontier awaits heliophysics by exploring the outer heliosphere, its boundary and beyond out to 400-1000 AU, a region now being made accessible within realistic mission design lifetimes by the increasing availability of large launch vehicles.Authorship Brandt, P. C. + 88 co-authorsContact Pontus C. Brandt ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Machine learning as a key approach for solar event monitoringDescription Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision have emerged as key component for the monitoring of solar events, from flares to coronal jets. In this white paper, we briefly discuss the current body of literature in this area and propose future areas of development, which include state-of-the-art models and smart big data applications that incorporate domain-specific knowledge.Authorship Thomas Y. ChenContact Thomas Chen ([email protected]) |
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Title Research software engineering as a career path in heliophysicsDescription The nascent field of research software engineering involves applying software engineering practices to research software. A research software engineer (RSE) could be a scientist who spends most of their time developing software, a software engineer who develops research software, or anyone in between. While RSEs have been around for the better part of a century, the term "research software engineering" has only come into widespread use since the last heliophysics decadal survey was released. This community paper will advocate for an RSE career path in heliophysics, including topics such as education & training, building connections with & learning from RSEs in other disciplines, career positions, and funding models.Authorship Nick MurphyContact Nick Murphy ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Synergies between interstellar dust and heliosphere science with interstellar probeDescription Interstellar dust moves through the heliosphere or is deflected around it, depending on dust particle properties (size, charge, etc.) and environment properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.). The dust flowing through the heliosphere changes flow dynamics depending on the phase in the solar cycle. Measuring and simulating interstellar dust flows through the heliosphere, and measuring and MHD-modeling of the heliosphere properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.) are complementary and are a unique chance to use two different fields (interstellar dust + heliosphere) in synergy to gain more knowledge about physical processes in the heliosphere and astrospheres.Authorship Veerle Sterken, Seth Redfield, Jon Slavin, Andre Galli, Casey Lisse, Kostas Dialynas, Merav OpherContact Veerle Sterken ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title Why and How to Increase Cross-Divisional OpportunitiesDescription Robotic space exploration, especially to far reaches of the solar system, is by its very nature difficult and expensive. As such, it behooves the entire space science community to work collaboratively to maximize the scientific return of missions, regardless of the primary funding Division. In the future, NASA should offer increased support and more opportunities enabling cross-Divisional science.Authorship Ian Cohen, Abigail Rymer, Drew Turner, Matina Gkioulidou, George Clark, Peter Kollmann, Sarah Vines, Robert Allen, Joseph Westlake, Romina Nikoukar (JHU/APL)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
Outer heliosphere
Title
Description
Authorship
Contact
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Title Expanding the Realm of Solar & Space Physics: Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Local Interstellar MediumDescription During its evolutionary journey through the galaxy, the Sun and its protective heliosphere have encountered widely different environments that have all helped form the system we live in, and soon our star will enter a completely new region of interstellar space. The orders-of-magnitude varying properties of interstellar plasma and gas are responsible for an extreme range of sizes and shapes of the global heliosphere throughout its history. This, in turn, has had dramatic consequence for the penetration interstellar dust and galactic cosmic rays that have affected several crucial aspects of elemental and isotopic abundances, atmospheric evolution and conditions for habitability. Despite the importance for the heliosphere and other astrospheres, the interaction mechanisms at the heliospheric boundary could not be understood by the limited Voyager payloads and represent a new regime of space physics. At the same time, the lack of direct access to pristine interstellar material has prevented progress in understanding the physics of the interstellar clouds and galactic evolution. A new science frontier awaits heliophysics by exploring the outer heliosphere, its boundary and beyond out to 400-1000 AU, a region now being made accessible within realistic mission design lifetimes by the increasing availability of large launch vehicles.Authorship Brandt, P. C. + 88 co-authorsContact Pontus C. Brandt ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Properties around the Heliospheric InterfaceDescription The recommendation of this white paper is to support development and deployment-to-space of a high-resolution spectrograph in order to distinguish the three populations of H atoms that directly interact at the interface of the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind is subsonic. A required resolution of 3 – 10 km/s at H Lyman- would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM), inner and outer heliosheath populations, and enable characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1 – 1000 AU. This new science would directly complement the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, New Horizons, and Interstellar Probe mission observations. The scientific yield would directly support NASA goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth; how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium; and determining what boundaries of the heliosphere look like.Authorship Majd Mayyasi, John Clarke, Eric Quémerais, Olga Katushkina, Vlad Izmodenov, Elena Provornikova, Justyna Sokół,, Pontus Brandt, André Galli, Merav Opher, Marc Kornbleuth, Jeff Linsky, Brian WoodContact Majd Mayyasi ([email protected]) |
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Title Solar Environment as Driving and Constraining Factor in the Study of the Heliosphere and the Local Interstellar MediumDescription Interstellar neutrals (ISNs), pickup ions (PUIs; ionized interstellar atoms picked up by the local magnetic field), and energetic neutral atoms (ENAs; neutralized PUIs) provide information about the interstellar medium, the global heliosphere, and processes at the transition between solar and interstellar environments. Those heliospheric data are usually collected from the vicinity of the Earth. Thus, they require careful and thoughtful interpretation of the observed signals and implementation of proper corrections for the modulation by solar environment. It is because solar wind and solar extreme ultraviolet radiation ionize the incoming flux of interstellar atoms measured close to the Earth’s orbit. The ionization losses vary depending on species and phase of solar activity. Hydrogen, the main element, is the most prone to the solar environment and undergoes the greatest losses inside the heliosphere. The high ionization rates create a density depletion region close to the Sun, known also as ionization cavity, which includes the Earth’s orbit. The last decades provided strong arguments for measurements at least outside the ionization cavity (beyond Jupiter’s orbit) to mitigate the adverse ionization losses for the fluxes of interstellar-born atoms. Moving the in-situ heliospheric measurements outside 1 au should be a priority for heliospheric community in the coming decades to satisfy progress in data interpretation, improve quality of the data measurement, and to advance our understanding of the heliosphere and the interstellar neighborhood.Authorship Justyna M. Sokol et al.Contact Justyna Sokol ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Synergies between interstellar dust and heliosphere science with interstellar probeDescription Interstellar dust moves through the heliosphere or is deflected around it, depending on dust particle properties (size, charge, etc.) and environment properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.). The dust flowing through the heliosphere changes flow dynamics depending on the phase in the solar cycle. Measuring and simulating interstellar dust flows through the heliosphere, and measuring and MHD-modeling of the heliosphere properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.) are complementary and are a unique chance to use two different fields (interstellar dust + heliosphere) in synergy to gain more knowledge about physical processes in the heliosphere and astrospheres.Authorship Veerle Sterken, Seth Redfield, Jon Slavin, Andre Galli, Casey Lisse, Kostas Dialynas, Merav OpherContact Veerle Sterken ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The potential of the Interstellar Probe for measuring in-situ interstellar neutralsDescription A near-term Interstellar Probe would enable in-situ measurements of the interstellar medium all the way from the Earth to the heliosheath and beyond the reaches of the heliopause. These revolutionary measurements would reveal how the interstellar medium is filtrated and deflected by our heliosphere and the chemical and isotopical composition of the unperturbed interstellar medium itself.Authorship Andre Galli, Seth Redfield, Elena Provornikova, Harald Kucharek, Paweł Swaczyna, Justyna M. Sokół, Marzena A. Kubiak, Ben L. AltermanContact Andre Galli ([email protected]) |
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Title The role of kappa distributions in Space ThermodynamicsDescription Classical collisional particle systems residing in thermal equilibrium have their particle velocity/energy distribution function stabilized into a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. On the contrary, space plasmas are collisionless particle systems residing in stationary states characterized by a non-Maxwellian behavior, typically described by kappa distributions. These distributions have become increasingly widespread across the physics of space plasma processes, describing particles in the heliosphere, from the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres to the heliosheath and beyond, the interstellar and intergalactic plasmas. A breakthrough in the field came with the connection of kappa distributions with statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, (i) maximize the entropy of nonextensive statistical mechanics under the constraints of canonical ensemble, (ii) characterize particle systems exchanging heat with each other eventually stabilized at a non-classical version of thermal equilibrium, and (iii) constitute the unique description of particle energies consistent with polytropic behavior.Authorship George LivadiotisContact George Livadiotis ([email protected]) |
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Title What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar MediumDescription What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar Medium Jeffrey L. Linsky1 and Seth Redfield2 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA 2Astronomy Department and Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459-0123, USA ABSTRACT Our understanding of the outer heliosphere is becoming clearer from direct measurements by the Voyager spacecraft and theoretical models, but what lies beyond the heliopause in the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) and beyond in the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) is a new frontier of heliospheric research. This white paper for the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop describes critical questions concerning the plasma and magnetic field and physical processes in the VLISM and LISM. 1. THE PRESENT PICTURE The heliosphere is the interface between our solar system and the rest of the galaxy. Measurements using both heliospheric and astronomical techniques are required to fully understand the physical interactions and morphology of this interface. Measurements from both perspectives are needed to apply out knowledge of the heliosphere to analogous structures around other nearby stars, many of which host habitable planets, and to evaluate how the heliosphere has evolved and influenced the habitability of solar system planets. The Voyagers passed the termnation shock (TS) at 94 AU (V1) and 84 AU (V2) and traversed the heliopause (HP) at 122 AU (V1) and 119 AU (V2). Beyond the HP, interstellar plasma is modified by the inclusion of pickup ions and anomalous cosmic rays created in the TS and heliosheath that leak into the VLISM through the HP. This region was called the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) by Zank (2015). Inside the VLISM, charge exchange reactions between inflowing hydrogen atoms and energetic solar wind protons create the “hydrogen wall” (HW) where hydrogen atoms are piled up (increased density), heated, and slowed down relative to the inflow speed of neutral hydrogen from the pristine LISM. Hydrogen wall absorption in the Lyman-α line measures solar or stellar mass-loss rates. Figure 1 shows a heliosphere model where the HW is seen as a neutral hydrogen density enhancement outside of the HP. In models by Zank et al. (2013), the maximum density in the HW occurs near 300 AU and extends outward to 400–600 AU depending on the local magnetic field strength. The only direct measurements of the inflowing VLISM gas are the neutral helium atoms that penetrate the heliosphere relatively unscathed by charge exchange reactions and neutral hydrogen atoms modified by charge exchange reactions and identified by backscattered Lyman-α radiation. Beyond the VLISM, perhaps 500–700 AU from the Sun, is the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) for which there are no direct measurements. We have only a crude understanding of the LISM based only on theory and remote measurements. 2. VLISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Models of the HWand VLISM computed with a MHD plasma – kinetic hydrogen code by 2 Figure 1. The heliosphere model computed by Richardson & Stone (2009). The top half shows the temperature structure. The bottom half shows the neutral hydrogen density. The HW is between 200 and 250 AU in the upwind direction. Zank et al. (2013) show that the VLISM magnetic field plays a critical role in determining (i) whether the decelerating LISM plasma has a bow shock or a bow wave, (ii) the amount of heating in the VLISM, and (iii) the neutral H column density density in the HW. Absorption in the Lyman-α line is best described by their model with a VLISM magnetic field of 3 μG, the same value inferred from observations of the IBEX ribbon (Zirnstein et al 2016). Other processes, known and unknown, shape the VLISM plasma. For example, pickup ions produced near the TS and accelerated ions (anomalous cosmic rays) dominate the heliosheath pressure. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) estimate the total pressure just beyond the HP by balancing the total pressure on both sides of the HP. They estimate that the total gas pressure pressure just beyond the HP as P(tot)/k = 25, 855 Kcm−3, whereas the total gas and magnetic pressure in the inner LISM is only 5,565 Kcm−3 (Frisch et al. 2011), a factor of 4–5 times smaller. To balance the total pressure, the magnetic field just outside of the HP should be about 8 μG, which is far larger than measured by V1 and somewhat larger than measured by V2. On this basis V1 and V2 have not yet have crossed the HP. Direct measurements of the thermal and nonthermal plasma and magnetic fields are needed to understand the VLISM and test the models. In particular, we need to know how far out solar energetic neutrals and ions extend and the length scales for charge exchange and thermalization processes in order to determine where the VLISM ends and the pristine LISM begins. 3. LISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Absorption line measurements of interstellar gas in the sightlines to nearby stars are the primary data set used to construct models of the LISM. Analysis of HST ultraviolet spectra yield line of sight average measurements of elemental abundances, ionization states, and velocity structure between the Sun and stars. Redfield & Linsky identified 15 clouds in the LISM by common velocity vectors towards stars. Each of these clouds has a mean temperature of 5,000–10,000 K. Linsky et al. (2019) showed that four clouds (see Figure 2) are very near the outer heliosphere. Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) absorption covers less than half the sky, indicating that the gas entering the VLISM and heliosphere may be at the edge LIC with somewhat different properties than in the LIC center. The neutral hydrogen density in the LIC had been estimated to be 0.195 cm−3 (Slavin & Frisch 2008) or about 0.12 cm−3 on the basis V2 and Cassini/INCA measurements (Dialynas et al. 2019). However, these are rough estimates of the mean hydrogen density in only one of the LISM clouds. Direct measurements of neutrals, electrons, and ions are needed to study the properties of the LISM. 3 Figure 2. Morphologies of the four partially ionized LISM clouds that are near the outer heliosphere: the LIC (red), which lies in front of ǫ Eri (3.2 pc), the G cloud (brown), which lies in front of α Cen (1.32 pc), the Blue cloud (dark blue), which lies in front of Sirius (2.64 pc), and the Aql cloud (green), which lies in front of 61 Cyg (3.5 pc). The plot is in Galactic coordinates with the Galactic Center direction in the center. The LIC upwind direction is indicated by the circled-cross symbol near l = 15◦ and b = +20◦, and the upwind directions of the other clouds have similar marks. The heliosphere is now exiting the LIC in the direction of the neighboring G cloud. Upper limits on the amount of interstellar Mg II absorption in this direction predict that the heliosphere will leave the LIC in less than 1900 years and perhaps this year. This would be a major event. Will the heliosphere directly enter the G cloud or a photoionized boundary layer with little neutral hydrogen? The size of the heliosphere and the composition of its plasma will change in either scenario. The EUVE satellite discovered that the star ǫ CMa (ecliptic coordinates λ = 111◦, β = −51◦ and distance 124 pc) is the the brightest source of extreme-UV radiation. EUV photons from ǫ CMa produce a very large photoionized region (called a Str¨omgren sphere) that surrounds the LISM warm clouds and the partially ionized Str¨omgren shells on the outer regions of the LISM clouds. EUV radiation from ǫ CMa photoionizes neutral hydrogen producing very low neutral hydrogen column density in this direction called the “hydrogen hole”. The role of photoionization must be tested. Magnetic fields will be important in shaping the morphology of clouds if the magnetic pressure exceeds the gas pressure, which would occur if BLISM > 3μG. Stronger magnetic fields just beyond the HP observed by V2 (Dialynas et al.(2019) suggest that magnetic fields may dominate the pressure in the LISM clouds. The very low density plasma in the LISM may include non-thermal particles that dominate the total pressure. Supernovae in the nearby Scorpio-Centaurus Association have occured as recently as a few million years ago and their shock waves produced high ionization in the LISM that may still be recombining. The ram pressure of supernovae shocks can dominate other sources of pressure in the simulations of Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002). Recent models of the velocity distribution of plasma in the outer heliosphere include non-thermal components (Swaczya et al. 2019). Future analysis of LISM absorption line profiles should test for high velocity tails using kappa distributions. The relative importance of these and potentially other sources of ionization and morphology in the LISM need to be understood. Direct measurements of thermal and non-thermal plasma and magnetic fields can accomplish this. References: Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002) Astron. Astrphys. 390, 299. Dialynas et al. (2019) Geophys. Res. Let. 46, 7911. Frisch et al. (2011) ARAA 49, 237. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) ApJ 833, 290. Linsky et al. (2019) ApJ 886, 41. Redfield & Linsky (2008) ApJ 673, 283. Richardson & Stone (2009) Space Sci. Rev 143, 7. Swaczyna et al. (2019) ApJ 871, 254. Zank et al. (2013) ApJ 763, 20. Zirnstein et al. (2016) ApJ 818, L18.Authorship Jeffrey L. Linsky and Seth RedfieldContact Jeffrey Linsky ([email protected]) |
Interstellar, stellar/solar, exoplanetary, habitability science
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Description
Authorship
Contact
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Expanding the Realm of Solar & Space Physics: Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Local Interstellar MediumDescription During its evolutionary journey through the galaxy, the Sun and its protective heliosphere have encountered widely different environments that have all helped form the system we live in, and soon our star will enter a completely new region of interstellar space. The orders-of-magnitude varying properties of interstellar plasma and gas are responsible for an extreme range of sizes and shapes of the global heliosphere throughout its history. This, in turn, has had dramatic consequence for the penetration interstellar dust and galactic cosmic rays that have affected several crucial aspects of elemental and isotopic abundances, atmospheric evolution and conditions for habitability. Despite the importance for the heliosphere and other astrospheres, the interaction mechanisms at the heliospheric boundary could not be understood by the limited Voyager payloads and represent a new regime of space physics. At the same time, the lack of direct access to pristine interstellar material has prevented progress in understanding the physics of the interstellar clouds and galactic evolution. A new science frontier awaits heliophysics by exploring the outer heliosphere, its boundary and beyond out to 400-1000 AU, a region now being made accessible within realistic mission design lifetimes by the increasing availability of large launch vehicles.Authorship Brandt, P. C. + 88 co-authorsContact Pontus C. Brandt ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Properties around the Heliospheric InterfaceDescription The recommendation of this white paper is to support development and deployment-to-space of a high-resolution spectrograph in order to distinguish the three populations of H atoms that directly interact at the interface of the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind is subsonic. A required resolution of 3 – 10 km/s at H Lyman- would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM), inner and outer heliosheath populations, and enable characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1 – 1000 AU. This new science would directly complement the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, New Horizons, and Interstellar Probe mission observations. The scientific yield would directly support NASA goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth; how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium; and determining what boundaries of the heliosphere look like.Authorship Majd Mayyasi, John Clarke, Eric Quémerais, Olga Katushkina, Vlad Izmodenov, Elena Provornikova, Justyna Sokół,, Pontus Brandt, André Galli, Merav Opher, Marc Kornbleuth, Jeff Linsky, Brian WoodContact Majd Mayyasi ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Synergies between interstellar dust and heliosphere science with interstellar probeDescription Interstellar dust moves through the heliosphere or is deflected around it, depending on dust particle properties (size, charge, etc.) and environment properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.). The dust flowing through the heliosphere changes flow dynamics depending on the phase in the solar cycle. Measuring and simulating interstellar dust flows through the heliosphere, and measuring and MHD-modeling of the heliosphere properties (plasma, magnetic field, etc.) are complementary and are a unique chance to use two different fields (interstellar dust + heliosphere) in synergy to gain more knowledge about physical processes in the heliosphere and astrospheres.Authorship Veerle Sterken, Seth Redfield, Jon Slavin, Andre Galli, Casey Lisse, Kostas Dialynas, Merav OpherContact Veerle Sterken ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The potential of the Interstellar Probe for measuring in-situ interstellar neutralsDescription A near-term Interstellar Probe would enable in-situ measurements of the interstellar medium all the way from the Earth to the heliosheath and beyond the reaches of the heliopause. These revolutionary measurements would reveal how the interstellar medium is filtrated and deflected by our heliosphere and the chemical and isotopical composition of the unperturbed interstellar medium itself.Authorship Andre Galli, Seth Redfield, Elena Provornikova, Harald Kucharek, Paweł Swaczyna, Justyna M. Sokół, Marzena A. Kubiak, Ben L. AltermanContact Andre Galli ([email protected]) |
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Title What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar MediumDescription What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar Medium Jeffrey L. Linsky1 and Seth Redfield2 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA 2Astronomy Department and Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459-0123, USA ABSTRACT Our understanding of the outer heliosphere is becoming clearer from direct measurements by the Voyager spacecraft and theoretical models, but what lies beyond the heliopause in the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) and beyond in the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) is a new frontier of heliospheric research. This white paper for the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop describes critical questions concerning the plasma and magnetic field and physical processes in the VLISM and LISM. 1. THE PRESENT PICTURE The heliosphere is the interface between our solar system and the rest of the galaxy. Measurements using both heliospheric and astronomical techniques are required to fully understand the physical interactions and morphology of this interface. Measurements from both perspectives are needed to apply out knowledge of the heliosphere to analogous structures around other nearby stars, many of which host habitable planets, and to evaluate how the heliosphere has evolved and influenced the habitability of solar system planets. The Voyagers passed the termnation shock (TS) at 94 AU (V1) and 84 AU (V2) and traversed the heliopause (HP) at 122 AU (V1) and 119 AU (V2). Beyond the HP, interstellar plasma is modified by the inclusion of pickup ions and anomalous cosmic rays created in the TS and heliosheath that leak into the VLISM through the HP. This region was called the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) by Zank (2015). Inside the VLISM, charge exchange reactions between inflowing hydrogen atoms and energetic solar wind protons create the “hydrogen wall” (HW) where hydrogen atoms are piled up (increased density), heated, and slowed down relative to the inflow speed of neutral hydrogen from the pristine LISM. Hydrogen wall absorption in the Lyman-α line measures solar or stellar mass-loss rates. Figure 1 shows a heliosphere model where the HW is seen as a neutral hydrogen density enhancement outside of the HP. In models by Zank et al. (2013), the maximum density in the HW occurs near 300 AU and extends outward to 400–600 AU depending on the local magnetic field strength. The only direct measurements of the inflowing VLISM gas are the neutral helium atoms that penetrate the heliosphere relatively unscathed by charge exchange reactions and neutral hydrogen atoms modified by charge exchange reactions and identified by backscattered Lyman-α radiation. Beyond the VLISM, perhaps 500–700 AU from the Sun, is the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) for which there are no direct measurements. We have only a crude understanding of the LISM based only on theory and remote measurements. 2. VLISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Models of the HWand VLISM computed with a MHD plasma – kinetic hydrogen code by 2 Figure 1. The heliosphere model computed by Richardson & Stone (2009). The top half shows the temperature structure. The bottom half shows the neutral hydrogen density. The HW is between 200 and 250 AU in the upwind direction. Zank et al. (2013) show that the VLISM magnetic field plays a critical role in determining (i) whether the decelerating LISM plasma has a bow shock or a bow wave, (ii) the amount of heating in the VLISM, and (iii) the neutral H column density density in the HW. Absorption in the Lyman-α line is best described by their model with a VLISM magnetic field of 3 μG, the same value inferred from observations of the IBEX ribbon (Zirnstein et al 2016). Other processes, known and unknown, shape the VLISM plasma. For example, pickup ions produced near the TS and accelerated ions (anomalous cosmic rays) dominate the heliosheath pressure. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) estimate the total pressure just beyond the HP by balancing the total pressure on both sides of the HP. They estimate that the total gas pressure pressure just beyond the HP as P(tot)/k = 25, 855 Kcm−3, whereas the total gas and magnetic pressure in the inner LISM is only 5,565 Kcm−3 (Frisch et al. 2011), a factor of 4–5 times smaller. To balance the total pressure, the magnetic field just outside of the HP should be about 8 μG, which is far larger than measured by V1 and somewhat larger than measured by V2. On this basis V1 and V2 have not yet have crossed the HP. Direct measurements of the thermal and nonthermal plasma and magnetic fields are needed to understand the VLISM and test the models. In particular, we need to know how far out solar energetic neutrals and ions extend and the length scales for charge exchange and thermalization processes in order to determine where the VLISM ends and the pristine LISM begins. 3. LISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Absorption line measurements of interstellar gas in the sightlines to nearby stars are the primary data set used to construct models of the LISM. Analysis of HST ultraviolet spectra yield line of sight average measurements of elemental abundances, ionization states, and velocity structure between the Sun and stars. Redfield & Linsky identified 15 clouds in the LISM by common velocity vectors towards stars. Each of these clouds has a mean temperature of 5,000–10,000 K. Linsky et al. (2019) showed that four clouds (see Figure 2) are very near the outer heliosphere. Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) absorption covers less than half the sky, indicating that the gas entering the VLISM and heliosphere may be at the edge LIC with somewhat different properties than in the LIC center. The neutral hydrogen density in the LIC had been estimated to be 0.195 cm−3 (Slavin & Frisch 2008) or about 0.12 cm−3 on the basis V2 and Cassini/INCA measurements (Dialynas et al. 2019). However, these are rough estimates of the mean hydrogen density in only one of the LISM clouds. Direct measurements of neutrals, electrons, and ions are needed to study the properties of the LISM. 3 Figure 2. Morphologies of the four partially ionized LISM clouds that are near the outer heliosphere: the LIC (red), which lies in front of ǫ Eri (3.2 pc), the G cloud (brown), which lies in front of α Cen (1.32 pc), the Blue cloud (dark blue), which lies in front of Sirius (2.64 pc), and the Aql cloud (green), which lies in front of 61 Cyg (3.5 pc). The plot is in Galactic coordinates with the Galactic Center direction in the center. The LIC upwind direction is indicated by the circled-cross symbol near l = 15◦ and b = +20◦, and the upwind directions of the other clouds have similar marks. The heliosphere is now exiting the LIC in the direction of the neighboring G cloud. Upper limits on the amount of interstellar Mg II absorption in this direction predict that the heliosphere will leave the LIC in less than 1900 years and perhaps this year. This would be a major event. Will the heliosphere directly enter the G cloud or a photoionized boundary layer with little neutral hydrogen? The size of the heliosphere and the composition of its plasma will change in either scenario. The EUVE satellite discovered that the star ǫ CMa (ecliptic coordinates λ = 111◦, β = −51◦ and distance 124 pc) is the the brightest source of extreme-UV radiation. EUV photons from ǫ CMa produce a very large photoionized region (called a Str¨omgren sphere) that surrounds the LISM warm clouds and the partially ionized Str¨omgren shells on the outer regions of the LISM clouds. EUV radiation from ǫ CMa photoionizes neutral hydrogen producing very low neutral hydrogen column density in this direction called the “hydrogen hole”. The role of photoionization must be tested. Magnetic fields will be important in shaping the morphology of clouds if the magnetic pressure exceeds the gas pressure, which would occur if BLISM > 3μG. Stronger magnetic fields just beyond the HP observed by V2 (Dialynas et al.(2019) suggest that magnetic fields may dominate the pressure in the LISM clouds. The very low density plasma in the LISM may include non-thermal particles that dominate the total pressure. Supernovae in the nearby Scorpio-Centaurus Association have occured as recently as a few million years ago and their shock waves produced high ionization in the LISM that may still be recombining. The ram pressure of supernovae shocks can dominate other sources of pressure in the simulations of Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002). Recent models of the velocity distribution of plasma in the outer heliosphere include non-thermal components (Swaczya et al. 2019). Future analysis of LISM absorption line profiles should test for high velocity tails using kappa distributions. The relative importance of these and potentially other sources of ionization and morphology in the LISM need to be understood. Direct measurements of thermal and non-thermal plasma and magnetic fields can accomplish this. References: Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002) Astron. Astrphys. 390, 299. Dialynas et al. (2019) Geophys. Res. Let. 46, 7911. Frisch et al. (2011) ARAA 49, 237. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) ApJ 833, 290. Linsky et al. (2019) ApJ 886, 41. Redfield & Linsky (2008) ApJ 673, 283. Richardson & Stone (2009) Space Sci. Rev 143, 7. Swaczyna et al. (2019) ApJ 871, 254. Zank et al. (2013) ApJ 763, 20. Zirnstein et al. (2016) ApJ 818, L18.Authorship Jeffrey L. Linsky and Seth RedfieldContact Jeffrey Linsky ([email protected]) |
Fundamental physics (e.g., shocks, reconnection)
Title
Description
Authorship
Contact
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Title Expanding the Realm of Solar & Space Physics: Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Local Interstellar MediumDescription During its evolutionary journey through the galaxy, the Sun and its protective heliosphere have encountered widely different environments that have all helped form the system we live in, and soon our star will enter a completely new region of interstellar space. The orders-of-magnitude varying properties of interstellar plasma and gas are responsible for an extreme range of sizes and shapes of the global heliosphere throughout its history. This, in turn, has had dramatic consequence for the penetration interstellar dust and galactic cosmic rays that have affected several crucial aspects of elemental and isotopic abundances, atmospheric evolution and conditions for habitability. Despite the importance for the heliosphere and other astrospheres, the interaction mechanisms at the heliospheric boundary could not be understood by the limited Voyager payloads and represent a new regime of space physics. At the same time, the lack of direct access to pristine interstellar material has prevented progress in understanding the physics of the interstellar clouds and galactic evolution. A new science frontier awaits heliophysics by exploring the outer heliosphere, its boundary and beyond out to 400-1000 AU, a region now being made accessible within realistic mission design lifetimes by the increasing availability of large launch vehicles.Authorship Brandt, P. C. + 88 co-authorsContact Pontus C. Brandt ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The role of kappa distributions in Space ThermodynamicsDescription Classical collisional particle systems residing in thermal equilibrium have their particle velocity/energy distribution function stabilized into a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. On the contrary, space plasmas are collisionless particle systems residing in stationary states characterized by a non-Maxwellian behavior, typically described by kappa distributions. These distributions have become increasingly widespread across the physics of space plasma processes, describing particles in the heliosphere, from the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres to the heliosheath and beyond, the interstellar and intergalactic plasmas. A breakthrough in the field came with the connection of kappa distributions with statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, (i) maximize the entropy of nonextensive statistical mechanics under the constraints of canonical ensemble, (ii) characterize particle systems exchanging heat with each other eventually stabilized at a non-classical version of thermal equilibrium, and (iii) constitute the unique description of particle energies consistent with polytropic behavior.Authorship George LivadiotisContact George Livadiotis ([email protected]) |
Space Weather
Space weather basic and applied research
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Machine learning as a key approach for solar event monitoringDescription Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision have emerged as key component for the monitoring of solar events, from flares to coronal jets. In this white paper, we briefly discuss the current body of literature in this area and propose future areas of development, which include state-of-the-art models and smart big data applications that incorporate domain-specific knowledge.Authorship Thomas Y. ChenContact Thomas Chen ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Weather Operations and the need for Multiple Heliosphere Observational Vantage PointsDescription Over the past decade, the public and the scientific community have grown to appreciate the potential impact of space weather. NASA’s recent Moon to Mars initiative highlights space weather's potential impact to humans traveling beyond LEO orbit. Successful completion of this endeavor demands improvements in the real-time space environment monitoring, analysis, modeling capabilities, and the communications of radiation risks. We have identified data essential to enable these improvements, and in this paper describe current gaps in these data and the impacts to space weather operations. We highlight the community and interagency efforts needed to establish multiple observational vantage points and facilitate improved nowcast and forecast capabilities.Authorship Y. Collado-Vega, R. Steenburgh, A. Halford, A. Pulkkinen, D. Biesecker, L. Upton, P. Quinn, A. Pevtsov, C. Lee, K. Whitman, R. Nikoukar, J. Barzilla, M. Cook, J. B. Parham, R. Loper, B. L. Alterman, D. JhaContact Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega ([email protected]) |
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Title The role of kappa distributions in Space ThermodynamicsDescription Classical collisional particle systems residing in thermal equilibrium have their particle velocity/energy distribution function stabilized into a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. On the contrary, space plasmas are collisionless particle systems residing in stationary states characterized by a non-Maxwellian behavior, typically described by kappa distributions. These distributions have become increasingly widespread across the physics of space plasma processes, describing particles in the heliosphere, from the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres to the heliosheath and beyond, the interstellar and intergalactic plasmas. A breakthrough in the field came with the connection of kappa distributions with statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. In particular, (i) maximize the entropy of nonextensive statistical mechanics under the constraints of canonical ensemble, (ii) characterize particle systems exchanging heat with each other eventually stabilized at a non-classical version of thermal equilibrium, and (iii) constitute the unique description of particle energies consistent with polytropic behavior.Authorship George LivadiotisContact George Livadiotis ([email protected]) |
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Title Towards a Better Understanding of the Causes and Consequences of Geomagnetic Perturbations in 2050Description Disturbances in the magnetic field at the Earth’s surface are at the center of Heliophysics and Space Weather research: remote sensing magnetosphere-ionosphere current systems, construction of geomagnetic indices used for space weather forecasts and model validation, monitoring of geoelectric fields and related Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC). The purpose of this white paper is to highlight future research, instrumentation, and community/inter-agency efforts that are needed to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of these perturbations.Authorship Michael Hartinger +10 co-authorsContact Michael Hartinger ([email protected]) |
Space weather operations
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Weather Operations and the need for Multiple Heliosphere Observational Vantage PointsDescription Over the past decade, the public and the scientific community have grown to appreciate the potential impact of space weather. NASA’s recent Moon to Mars initiative highlights space weather's potential impact to humans traveling beyond LEO orbit. Successful completion of this endeavor demands improvements in the real-time space environment monitoring, analysis, modeling capabilities, and the communications of radiation risks. We have identified data essential to enable these improvements, and in this paper describe current gaps in these data and the impacts to space weather operations. We highlight the community and interagency efforts needed to establish multiple observational vantage points and facilitate improved nowcast and forecast capabilities.Authorship Y. Collado-Vega, R. Steenburgh, A. Halford, A. Pulkkinen, D. Biesecker, L. Upton, P. Quinn, A. Pevtsov, C. Lee, K. Whitman, R. Nikoukar, J. Barzilla, M. Cook, J. B. Parham, R. Loper, B. L. Alterman, D. JhaContact Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega ([email protected]) |
Enabling Operations
Observatories (e.g., space-based platforms, ground-based observatories, ground-to-spacecraft communication, systems and subsystems)
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Weather Operations and the need for Multiple Heliosphere Observational Vantage PointsDescription Over the past decade, the public and the scientific community have grown to appreciate the potential impact of space weather. NASA’s recent Moon to Mars initiative highlights space weather's potential impact to humans traveling beyond LEO orbit. Successful completion of this endeavor demands improvements in the real-time space environment monitoring, analysis, modeling capabilities, and the communications of radiation risks. We have identified data essential to enable these improvements, and in this paper describe current gaps in these data and the impacts to space weather operations. We highlight the community and interagency efforts needed to establish multiple observational vantage points and facilitate improved nowcast and forecast capabilities.Authorship Y. Collado-Vega, R. Steenburgh, A. Halford, A. Pulkkinen, D. Biesecker, L. Upton, P. Quinn, A. Pevtsov, C. Lee, K. Whitman, R. Nikoukar, J. Barzilla, M. Cook, J. B. Parham, R. Loper, B. L. Alterman, D. JhaContact Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega ([email protected]) |
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Title Towards a Better Understanding of the Causes and Consequences of Geomagnetic Perturbations in 2050Description Disturbances in the magnetic field at the Earth’s surface are at the center of Heliophysics and Space Weather research: remote sensing magnetosphere-ionosphere current systems, construction of geomagnetic indices used for space weather forecasts and model validation, monitoring of geoelectric fields and related Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC). The purpose of this white paper is to highlight future research, instrumentation, and community/inter-agency efforts that are needed to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences of these perturbations.Authorship Michael Hartinger +10 co-authorsContact Michael Hartinger ([email protected]) |
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Title What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar MediumDescription What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar Medium Jeffrey L. Linsky1 and Seth Redfield2 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA 2Astronomy Department and Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459-0123, USA ABSTRACT Our understanding of the outer heliosphere is becoming clearer from direct measurements by the Voyager spacecraft and theoretical models, but what lies beyond the heliopause in the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) and beyond in the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) is a new frontier of heliospheric research. This white paper for the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop describes critical questions concerning the plasma and magnetic field and physical processes in the VLISM and LISM. 1. THE PRESENT PICTURE The heliosphere is the interface between our solar system and the rest of the galaxy. Measurements using both heliospheric and astronomical techniques are required to fully understand the physical interactions and morphology of this interface. Measurements from both perspectives are needed to apply out knowledge of the heliosphere to analogous structures around other nearby stars, many of which host habitable planets, and to evaluate how the heliosphere has evolved and influenced the habitability of solar system planets. The Voyagers passed the termnation shock (TS) at 94 AU (V1) and 84 AU (V2) and traversed the heliopause (HP) at 122 AU (V1) and 119 AU (V2). Beyond the HP, interstellar plasma is modified by the inclusion of pickup ions and anomalous cosmic rays created in the TS and heliosheath that leak into the VLISM through the HP. This region was called the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) by Zank (2015). Inside the VLISM, charge exchange reactions between inflowing hydrogen atoms and energetic solar wind protons create the “hydrogen wall” (HW) where hydrogen atoms are piled up (increased density), heated, and slowed down relative to the inflow speed of neutral hydrogen from the pristine LISM. Hydrogen wall absorption in the Lyman-α line measures solar or stellar mass-loss rates. Figure 1 shows a heliosphere model where the HW is seen as a neutral hydrogen density enhancement outside of the HP. In models by Zank et al. (2013), the maximum density in the HW occurs near 300 AU and extends outward to 400–600 AU depending on the local magnetic field strength. The only direct measurements of the inflowing VLISM gas are the neutral helium atoms that penetrate the heliosphere relatively unscathed by charge exchange reactions and neutral hydrogen atoms modified by charge exchange reactions and identified by backscattered Lyman-α radiation. Beyond the VLISM, perhaps 500–700 AU from the Sun, is the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) for which there are no direct measurements. We have only a crude understanding of the LISM based only on theory and remote measurements. 2. VLISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Models of the HWand VLISM computed with a MHD plasma – kinetic hydrogen code by 2 Figure 1. The heliosphere model computed by Richardson & Stone (2009). The top half shows the temperature structure. The bottom half shows the neutral hydrogen density. The HW is between 200 and 250 AU in the upwind direction. Zank et al. (2013) show that the VLISM magnetic field plays a critical role in determining (i) whether the decelerating LISM plasma has a bow shock or a bow wave, (ii) the amount of heating in the VLISM, and (iii) the neutral H column density density in the HW. Absorption in the Lyman-α line is best described by their model with a VLISM magnetic field of 3 μG, the same value inferred from observations of the IBEX ribbon (Zirnstein et al 2016). Other processes, known and unknown, shape the VLISM plasma. For example, pickup ions produced near the TS and accelerated ions (anomalous cosmic rays) dominate the heliosheath pressure. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) estimate the total pressure just beyond the HP by balancing the total pressure on both sides of the HP. They estimate that the total gas pressure pressure just beyond the HP as P(tot)/k = 25, 855 Kcm−3, whereas the total gas and magnetic pressure in the inner LISM is only 5,565 Kcm−3 (Frisch et al. 2011), a factor of 4–5 times smaller. To balance the total pressure, the magnetic field just outside of the HP should be about 8 μG, which is far larger than measured by V1 and somewhat larger than measured by V2. On this basis V1 and V2 have not yet have crossed the HP. Direct measurements of the thermal and nonthermal plasma and magnetic fields are needed to understand the VLISM and test the models. In particular, we need to know how far out solar energetic neutrals and ions extend and the length scales for charge exchange and thermalization processes in order to determine where the VLISM ends and the pristine LISM begins. 3. LISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Absorption line measurements of interstellar gas in the sightlines to nearby stars are the primary data set used to construct models of the LISM. Analysis of HST ultraviolet spectra yield line of sight average measurements of elemental abundances, ionization states, and velocity structure between the Sun and stars. Redfield & Linsky identified 15 clouds in the LISM by common velocity vectors towards stars. Each of these clouds has a mean temperature of 5,000–10,000 K. Linsky et al. (2019) showed that four clouds (see Figure 2) are very near the outer heliosphere. Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) absorption covers less than half the sky, indicating that the gas entering the VLISM and heliosphere may be at the edge LIC with somewhat different properties than in the LIC center. The neutral hydrogen density in the LIC had been estimated to be 0.195 cm−3 (Slavin & Frisch 2008) or about 0.12 cm−3 on the basis V2 and Cassini/INCA measurements (Dialynas et al. 2019). However, these are rough estimates of the mean hydrogen density in only one of the LISM clouds. Direct measurements of neutrals, electrons, and ions are needed to study the properties of the LISM. 3 Figure 2. Morphologies of the four partially ionized LISM clouds that are near the outer heliosphere: the LIC (red), which lies in front of ǫ Eri (3.2 pc), the G cloud (brown), which lies in front of α Cen (1.32 pc), the Blue cloud (dark blue), which lies in front of Sirius (2.64 pc), and the Aql cloud (green), which lies in front of 61 Cyg (3.5 pc). The plot is in Galactic coordinates with the Galactic Center direction in the center. The LIC upwind direction is indicated by the circled-cross symbol near l = 15◦ and b = +20◦, and the upwind directions of the other clouds have similar marks. The heliosphere is now exiting the LIC in the direction of the neighboring G cloud. Upper limits on the amount of interstellar Mg II absorption in this direction predict that the heliosphere will leave the LIC in less than 1900 years and perhaps this year. This would be a major event. Will the heliosphere directly enter the G cloud or a photoionized boundary layer with little neutral hydrogen? The size of the heliosphere and the composition of its plasma will change in either scenario. The EUVE satellite discovered that the star ǫ CMa (ecliptic coordinates λ = 111◦, β = −51◦ and distance 124 pc) is the the brightest source of extreme-UV radiation. EUV photons from ǫ CMa produce a very large photoionized region (called a Str¨omgren sphere) that surrounds the LISM warm clouds and the partially ionized Str¨omgren shells on the outer regions of the LISM clouds. EUV radiation from ǫ CMa photoionizes neutral hydrogen producing very low neutral hydrogen column density in this direction called the “hydrogen hole”. The role of photoionization must be tested. Magnetic fields will be important in shaping the morphology of clouds if the magnetic pressure exceeds the gas pressure, which would occur if BLISM > 3μG. Stronger magnetic fields just beyond the HP observed by V2 (Dialynas et al.(2019) suggest that magnetic fields may dominate the pressure in the LISM clouds. The very low density plasma in the LISM may include non-thermal particles that dominate the total pressure. Supernovae in the nearby Scorpio-Centaurus Association have occured as recently as a few million years ago and their shock waves produced high ionization in the LISM that may still be recombining. The ram pressure of supernovae shocks can dominate other sources of pressure in the simulations of Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002). Recent models of the velocity distribution of plasma in the outer heliosphere include non-thermal components (Swaczya et al. 2019). Future analysis of LISM absorption line profiles should test for high velocity tails using kappa distributions. The relative importance of these and potentially other sources of ionization and morphology in the LISM need to be understood. Direct measurements of thermal and non-thermal plasma and magnetic fields can accomplish this. References: Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002) Astron. Astrphys. 390, 299. Dialynas et al. (2019) Geophys. Res. Let. 46, 7911. Frisch et al. (2011) ARAA 49, 237. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) ApJ 833, 290. Linsky et al. (2019) ApJ 886, 41. Redfield & Linsky (2008) ApJ 673, 283. Richardson & Stone (2009) Space Sci. Rev 143, 7. Swaczyna et al. (2019) ApJ 871, 254. Zank et al. (2013) ApJ 763, 20. Zirnstein et al. (2016) ApJ 818, L18.Authorship Jeffrey L. Linsky and Seth RedfieldContact Jeffrey Linsky ([email protected]) |
Cyberinfrastructure (e.g., data archives, computational capabilities)
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Research software engineering as a career path in heliophysicsDescription The nascent field of research software engineering involves applying software engineering practices to research software. A research software engineer (RSE) could be a scientist who spends most of their time developing software, a software engineer who develops research software, or anyone in between. While RSEs have been around for the better part of a century, the term "research software engineering" has only come into widespread use since the last heliophysics decadal survey was released. This community paper will advocate for an RSE career path in heliophysics, including topics such as education & training, building connections with & learning from RSEs in other disciplines, career positions, and funding models.Authorship Nick MurphyContact Nick Murphy ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The DIARieS Ecosystem – An ecosystem to simplify Discovery, Implementation, Analysis, Reproducibility, and Sharing of scientific results and environments.Description In its current state, the heliophysics community does not provide sufficient infrastructure to researchers. Data, catalogs, models, software, and hardware remain difficult to discover, implement and utilize; especially as a collective capability. Poor citation of these research components plagues most journals, careers and scientific progress. Publication results are notoriously difficult to reproduce. Research involving multiple disciplines is difficult at best and generally unattainable for most. Finally, analysis of large, disparate and distributed datasets is typically impossible for smaller institutions. We thus recommend the community develop an online discovery and analysis ecosystem for heliophysics to address these barriers to progress.Authorship R. Ringuette, E.Engell, O. Gerland, and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
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Title The LIKED Resource - A Library KnowledgE and Discovery online resource for discovering and implementing knowledge, data, and infrastructure resources.Description The heliophysics discipline currently suffers from a lack of structure for discovery of basic knowledge, access to expert help and collaborators, example analysis tutorials, and discovery of data, catalogs, models, software, and funding opportunities. The educational resources currently available only satisfy the most basic questions, and typically do not connect to more advanced information or lead to connections with researchers. Contact information typically found on publications is not always current, impairing possible connections between newer researchers and cross-disciplinary researchers and those already established in the field. Example analysis tutorials do exist in some places but are difficult to discover as they are commonly buried in software tutorials. Although data and models are recently more discoverable due to the efforts of the community and the archive centers, finding the appropriate software and funding opportunities is notoriously difficult. Even so, there remain many datasets and models not hosted at these archives that are difficult to find. Also, the heliophysics discipline lacks ‘What if’ interactive environments, which are becoming popular in the geosciences, precluding effective communication with budding scientists and policy and decision makers. To our shame, it has become a disappointing habit of many researchers in heliophysics to begin their research of a topic on Wikipedia for lack of a better resource. This should not be so. We recommend addressing these issues by developing a discipline-wide, community-verified online library resource discovery website.Authorship R. Ringuette and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
Supporting capabilities (e.g., laboratory measurements, theoretical and computational models, analysis tools)
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The DIARieS Ecosystem – An ecosystem to simplify Discovery, Implementation, Analysis, Reproducibility, and Sharing of scientific results and environments.Description In its current state, the heliophysics community does not provide sufficient infrastructure to researchers. Data, catalogs, models, software, and hardware remain difficult to discover, implement and utilize; especially as a collective capability. Poor citation of these research components plagues most journals, careers and scientific progress. Publication results are notoriously difficult to reproduce. Research involving multiple disciplines is difficult at best and generally unattainable for most. Finally, analysis of large, disparate and distributed datasets is typically impossible for smaller institutions. We thus recommend the community develop an online discovery and analysis ecosystem for heliophysics to address these barriers to progress.Authorship R. Ringuette, E.Engell, O. Gerland, and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
Additional Topics
Agency programmatic items (e.g., programs, partnerships, collaborations, decision rules/prioritizations)
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Authorship
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Title Jupiter’s radiation belts as a target for NASA’s Heliophysics DivisionDescription NASA’s heliospheric division studies “the Sun, the heliosphere, and Earth’s magnetosphere and... universal plasma phenomena”. We will argue that Jupiter's radiation belts, magnetosphere, and near-space environment should be considered as relevant targets for NASA’s Heliophysics missions. Jupiter’s magnetosphere covers all universal processes called out in the 2013 Decadal. Space plasma physics at planetary systems is much more relevant to the defined focus of NASA’s Heliophysics division than for the core sciences of the planetary division. Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere hosts a wealth of particle species and charges subject to processes that can be studied with less ambiguity relative to Earth thanks to spatial unmixing. This makes Jupiter an ideal laboratory to investigate a wide range of space plasma processes. Its magnetosphere continuously accelerates particles to higher energies than what is even reached during extreme space weather events. Jupiter covers such an immense parameter range in particle energies, magnetic field, and waves that it can bridge the in-situ study of magnetospheres and the remote observation of extrasolar systems like supernova remnants.Authorship everybody who is interestedContact Peter Kollmann ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The Case for Broadening the Scope of HeliophysicsDescription Moving forward, hopefully starting with the next Decadal Survey and certainly by 2050, the solar and space physics community should focus emphasis on the general and fundamental importance and excitement of its science with a new mindset: Heliophysics is a fundamental science discipline that is interwoven with planetary science, astrophysics, geoscience, and laboratory plasma physics. It is the study of the very nature of plasmas throughout space, originating with our own Sun and heliosphere and extending to planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, stellar atmospheres and astrospheres, interstellar space, and more exotic magnetized plasma regimes like pulsars, black holes, and supernovae.Authorship Ian Cohen, Matina Gkioulidou, Drew Turner, Romina Nikoukar, Joe Westlake (JHU/APL); Aleida Higginson (NASA/GSFC); Ryan McGranaghan (ASTRA); Gordon Emslie (WKU); Dan Baker (LASP); and Harlan Spence (UNH)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
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Title The DIARieS Ecosystem – An ecosystem to simplify Discovery, Implementation, Analysis, Reproducibility, and Sharing of scientific results and environments.Description In its current state, the heliophysics community does not provide sufficient infrastructure to researchers. Data, catalogs, models, software, and hardware remain difficult to discover, implement and utilize; especially as a collective capability. Poor citation of these research components plagues most journals, careers and scientific progress. Publication results are notoriously difficult to reproduce. Research involving multiple disciplines is difficult at best and generally unattainable for most. Finally, analysis of large, disparate and distributed datasets is typically impossible for smaller institutions. We thus recommend the community develop an online discovery and analysis ecosystem for heliophysics to address these barriers to progress.Authorship R. Ringuette, E.Engell, O. Gerland, and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
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Title The LIKED Resource - A Library KnowledgE and Discovery online resource for discovering and implementing knowledge, data, and infrastructure resources.Description The heliophysics discipline currently suffers from a lack of structure for discovery of basic knowledge, access to expert help and collaborators, example analysis tutorials, and discovery of data, catalogs, models, software, and funding opportunities. The educational resources currently available only satisfy the most basic questions, and typically do not connect to more advanced information or lead to connections with researchers. Contact information typically found on publications is not always current, impairing possible connections between newer researchers and cross-disciplinary researchers and those already established in the field. Example analysis tutorials do exist in some places but are difficult to discover as they are commonly buried in software tutorials. Although data and models are recently more discoverable due to the efforts of the community and the archive centers, finding the appropriate software and funding opportunities is notoriously difficult. Even so, there remain many datasets and models not hosted at these archives that are difficult to find. Also, the heliophysics discipline lacks ‘What if’ interactive environments, which are becoming popular in the geosciences, precluding effective communication with budding scientists and policy and decision makers. To our shame, it has become a disappointing habit of many researchers in heliophysics to begin their research of a topic on Wikipedia for lack of a better resource. This should not be so. We recommend addressing these issues by developing a discipline-wide, community-verified online library resource discovery website.Authorship R. Ringuette and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
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Title What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar MediumDescription What Lies Outside of the Heliopause: Connecting the Outer Heliosphere with the Interstellar Medium Jeffrey L. Linsky1 and Seth Redfield2 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA 2Astronomy Department and Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459-0123, USA ABSTRACT Our understanding of the outer heliosphere is becoming clearer from direct measurements by the Voyager spacecraft and theoretical models, but what lies beyond the heliopause in the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) and beyond in the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) is a new frontier of heliospheric research. This white paper for the Heliophysics 2050 Workshop describes critical questions concerning the plasma and magnetic field and physical processes in the VLISM and LISM. 1. THE PRESENT PICTURE The heliosphere is the interface between our solar system and the rest of the galaxy. Measurements using both heliospheric and astronomical techniques are required to fully understand the physical interactions and morphology of this interface. Measurements from both perspectives are needed to apply out knowledge of the heliosphere to analogous structures around other nearby stars, many of which host habitable planets, and to evaluate how the heliosphere has evolved and influenced the habitability of solar system planets. The Voyagers passed the termnation shock (TS) at 94 AU (V1) and 84 AU (V2) and traversed the heliopause (HP) at 122 AU (V1) and 119 AU (V2). Beyond the HP, interstellar plasma is modified by the inclusion of pickup ions and anomalous cosmic rays created in the TS and heliosheath that leak into the VLISM through the HP. This region was called the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) by Zank (2015). Inside the VLISM, charge exchange reactions between inflowing hydrogen atoms and energetic solar wind protons create the “hydrogen wall” (HW) where hydrogen atoms are piled up (increased density), heated, and slowed down relative to the inflow speed of neutral hydrogen from the pristine LISM. Hydrogen wall absorption in the Lyman-α line measures solar or stellar mass-loss rates. Figure 1 shows a heliosphere model where the HW is seen as a neutral hydrogen density enhancement outside of the HP. In models by Zank et al. (2013), the maximum density in the HW occurs near 300 AU and extends outward to 400–600 AU depending on the local magnetic field strength. The only direct measurements of the inflowing VLISM gas are the neutral helium atoms that penetrate the heliosphere relatively unscathed by charge exchange reactions and neutral hydrogen atoms modified by charge exchange reactions and identified by backscattered Lyman-α radiation. Beyond the VLISM, perhaps 500–700 AU from the Sun, is the pristine Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) for which there are no direct measurements. We have only a crude understanding of the LISM based only on theory and remote measurements. 2. VLISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Models of the HWand VLISM computed with a MHD plasma – kinetic hydrogen code by 2 Figure 1. The heliosphere model computed by Richardson & Stone (2009). The top half shows the temperature structure. The bottom half shows the neutral hydrogen density. The HW is between 200 and 250 AU in the upwind direction. Zank et al. (2013) show that the VLISM magnetic field plays a critical role in determining (i) whether the decelerating LISM plasma has a bow shock or a bow wave, (ii) the amount of heating in the VLISM, and (iii) the neutral H column density density in the HW. Absorption in the Lyman-α line is best described by their model with a VLISM magnetic field of 3 μG, the same value inferred from observations of the IBEX ribbon (Zirnstein et al 2016). Other processes, known and unknown, shape the VLISM plasma. For example, pickup ions produced near the TS and accelerated ions (anomalous cosmic rays) dominate the heliosheath pressure. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) estimate the total pressure just beyond the HP by balancing the total pressure on both sides of the HP. They estimate that the total gas pressure pressure just beyond the HP as P(tot)/k = 25, 855 Kcm−3, whereas the total gas and magnetic pressure in the inner LISM is only 5,565 Kcm−3 (Frisch et al. 2011), a factor of 4–5 times smaller. To balance the total pressure, the magnetic field just outside of the HP should be about 8 μG, which is far larger than measured by V1 and somewhat larger than measured by V2. On this basis V1 and V2 have not yet have crossed the HP. Direct measurements of the thermal and nonthermal plasma and magnetic fields are needed to understand the VLISM and test the models. In particular, we need to know how far out solar energetic neutrals and ions extend and the length scales for charge exchange and thermalization processes in order to determine where the VLISM ends and the pristine LISM begins. 3. LISM SCIENCE QUESTIONS Absorption line measurements of interstellar gas in the sightlines to nearby stars are the primary data set used to construct models of the LISM. Analysis of HST ultraviolet spectra yield line of sight average measurements of elemental abundances, ionization states, and velocity structure between the Sun and stars. Redfield & Linsky identified 15 clouds in the LISM by common velocity vectors towards stars. Each of these clouds has a mean temperature of 5,000–10,000 K. Linsky et al. (2019) showed that four clouds (see Figure 2) are very near the outer heliosphere. Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC) absorption covers less than half the sky, indicating that the gas entering the VLISM and heliosphere may be at the edge LIC with somewhat different properties than in the LIC center. The neutral hydrogen density in the LIC had been estimated to be 0.195 cm−3 (Slavin & Frisch 2008) or about 0.12 cm−3 on the basis V2 and Cassini/INCA measurements (Dialynas et al. 2019). However, these are rough estimates of the mean hydrogen density in only one of the LISM clouds. Direct measurements of neutrals, electrons, and ions are needed to study the properties of the LISM. 3 Figure 2. Morphologies of the four partially ionized LISM clouds that are near the outer heliosphere: the LIC (red), which lies in front of ǫ Eri (3.2 pc), the G cloud (brown), which lies in front of α Cen (1.32 pc), the Blue cloud (dark blue), which lies in front of Sirius (2.64 pc), and the Aql cloud (green), which lies in front of 61 Cyg (3.5 pc). The plot is in Galactic coordinates with the Galactic Center direction in the center. The LIC upwind direction is indicated by the circled-cross symbol near l = 15◦ and b = +20◦, and the upwind directions of the other clouds have similar marks. The heliosphere is now exiting the LIC in the direction of the neighboring G cloud. Upper limits on the amount of interstellar Mg II absorption in this direction predict that the heliosphere will leave the LIC in less than 1900 years and perhaps this year. This would be a major event. Will the heliosphere directly enter the G cloud or a photoionized boundary layer with little neutral hydrogen? The size of the heliosphere and the composition of its plasma will change in either scenario. The EUVE satellite discovered that the star ǫ CMa (ecliptic coordinates λ = 111◦, β = −51◦ and distance 124 pc) is the the brightest source of extreme-UV radiation. EUV photons from ǫ CMa produce a very large photoionized region (called a Str¨omgren sphere) that surrounds the LISM warm clouds and the partially ionized Str¨omgren shells on the outer regions of the LISM clouds. EUV radiation from ǫ CMa photoionizes neutral hydrogen producing very low neutral hydrogen column density in this direction called the “hydrogen hole”. The role of photoionization must be tested. Magnetic fields will be important in shaping the morphology of clouds if the magnetic pressure exceeds the gas pressure, which would occur if BLISM > 3μG. Stronger magnetic fields just beyond the HP observed by V2 (Dialynas et al.(2019) suggest that magnetic fields may dominate the pressure in the LISM clouds. The very low density plasma in the LISM may include non-thermal particles that dominate the total pressure. Supernovae in the nearby Scorpio-Centaurus Association have occured as recently as a few million years ago and their shock waves produced high ionization in the LISM that may still be recombining. The ram pressure of supernovae shocks can dominate other sources of pressure in the simulations of Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002). Recent models of the velocity distribution of plasma in the outer heliosphere include non-thermal components (Swaczya et al. 2019). Future analysis of LISM absorption line profiles should test for high velocity tails using kappa distributions. The relative importance of these and potentially other sources of ionization and morphology in the LISM need to be understood. Direct measurements of thermal and non-thermal plasma and magnetic fields can accomplish this. References: Berghofer & Breitschwerdt (2002) Astron. Astrphys. 390, 299. Dialynas et al. (2019) Geophys. Res. Let. 46, 7911. Frisch et al. (2011) ARAA 49, 237. Gloeckler & Fisk (2016) ApJ 833, 290. Linsky et al. (2019) ApJ 886, 41. Redfield & Linsky (2008) ApJ 673, 283. Richardson & Stone (2009) Space Sci. Rev 143, 7. Swaczyna et al. (2019) ApJ 871, 254. Zank et al. (2013) ApJ 763, 20. Zirnstein et al. (2016) ApJ 818, L18.Authorship Jeffrey L. Linsky and Seth RedfieldContact Jeffrey Linsky ([email protected]) |
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Title Why and How to Increase Cross-Divisional OpportunitiesDescription Robotic space exploration, especially to far reaches of the solar system, is by its very nature difficult and expensive. As such, it behooves the entire space science community to work collaboratively to maximize the scientific return of missions, regardless of the primary funding Division. In the future, NASA should offer increased support and more opportunities enabling cross-Divisional science.Authorship Ian Cohen, Abigail Rymer, Drew Turner, Matina Gkioulidou, George Clark, Peter Kollmann, Sarah Vines, Robert Allen, Joseph Westlake, Romina Nikoukar (JHU/APL)Contact Ian Cohen ([email protected]) |
State of the Profession (e.g., workforce development, workforce retention, research community health, work environment, DEAI/IDEA)
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Title Encouraging Excellence in Heliophysics through Equitable Reform and Colleague AdvocacyDescription Unconscious or implicit bias impacts both our science and scientific membership by creating a barrier to underrepresented and less privileged members of the space physics community. It negatively impacts progress in space physics as it influences the perception of scientific outputs and results for reasons that have nothing to do with their intrinsic value. This unconscious bias affects all levels of career progression, from university admissions to the bestowment of prestigious awards. There are two paths to pursue that have been shown to reduce the impact of implicit bias on communities: structural reorganization and community member improvement. This white paper will propose several steps that the space physics community can take along both of these paths.Authorship Angeline G. Burrell, Alexa Halford, McArthur Jones Jr., Kate Zawdie, John CoxonContact Angeline G. Burrell ([email protected]) |
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Title Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Properties around the Heliospheric InterfaceDescription The recommendation of this white paper is to support development and deployment-to-space of a high-resolution spectrograph in order to distinguish the three populations of H atoms that directly interact at the interface of the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind is subsonic. A required resolution of 3 – 10 km/s at H Lyman- would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM), inner and outer heliosheath populations, and enable characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1 – 1000 AU. This new science would directly complement the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, New Horizons, and Interstellar Probe mission observations. The scientific yield would directly support NASA goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth; how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium; and determining what boundaries of the heliosphere look like.Authorship Majd Mayyasi, John Clarke, Eric Quémerais, Olga Katushkina, Vlad Izmodenov, Elena Provornikova, Justyna Sokół,, Pontus Brandt, André Galli, Merav Opher, Marc Kornbleuth, Jeff Linsky, Brian WoodContact Majd Mayyasi ([email protected]) |
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Title Research software engineering as a career path in heliophysicsDescription The nascent field of research software engineering involves applying software engineering practices to research software. A research software engineer (RSE) could be a scientist who spends most of their time developing software, a software engineer who develops research software, or anyone in between. While RSEs have been around for the better part of a century, the term "research software engineering" has only come into widespread use since the last heliophysics decadal survey was released. This community paper will advocate for an RSE career path in heliophysics, including topics such as education & training, building connections with & learning from RSEs in other disciplines, career positions, and funding models.Authorship Nick MurphyContact Nick Murphy ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
Science engagement (e.g., education, outreach, communication)
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Intelligent Missions in a Living Heliophysics System ObservatoryDescription By 2050, the Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) will consist of satellite swarms and constellations that generate untold quantities of data. In addition, the HSO archive will consist of the retired single- and multi-spacecraft mission data that paved the way to 2050. To maximize the science return of a growing HSO and leverage the vast potential of past missions and their large data sets, next-generation missions need to incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data mining approaches (AI) into their science objectives and mission architectures from the ground up. This includes developing AI-capable hardware, creating resource-limited models for in-flight data evaluation, recognizing changing data quality, and encouraging science discovery through AI applications. It also includes investing in infrastructure to support these objectives: a centralized cloud database for AI-ready datasets, support of open source software initiatives, and services to host and run AI models.Authorship Matthew R. Argall, Abigail Azari, Téo Bloch, Jacob Bortnik, Seth Claudepierre, Banafsheh Ferdousi, Stephen A. Fuselier, Christine Gabrielse, Kyoung-Joo Hwang, Amy Keesee, Ryan M. McGranaghan, Dogacan Su Ozturk, Viacheslav M Sadykov, Jason Shuster, ...Contact Matthew Argall ([email protected]) |
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Title Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Properties around the Heliospheric InterfaceDescription The recommendation of this white paper is to support development and deployment-to-space of a high-resolution spectrograph in order to distinguish the three populations of H atoms that directly interact at the interface of the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind is subsonic. A required resolution of 3 – 10 km/s at H Lyman- would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM), inner and outer heliosheath populations, and enable characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1 – 1000 AU. This new science would directly complement the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, New Horizons, and Interstellar Probe mission observations. The scientific yield would directly support NASA goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth; how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium; and determining what boundaries of the heliosphere look like.Authorship Majd Mayyasi, John Clarke, Eric Quémerais, Olga Katushkina, Vlad Izmodenov, Elena Provornikova, Justyna Sokół,, Pontus Brandt, André Galli, Merav Opher, Marc Kornbleuth, Jeff Linsky, Brian WoodContact Majd Mayyasi ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
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Title The DIARieS Ecosystem – An ecosystem to simplify Discovery, Implementation, Analysis, Reproducibility, and Sharing of scientific results and environments.Description In its current state, the heliophysics community does not provide sufficient infrastructure to researchers. Data, catalogs, models, software, and hardware remain difficult to discover, implement and utilize; especially as a collective capability. Poor citation of these research components plagues most journals, careers and scientific progress. Publication results are notoriously difficult to reproduce. Research involving multiple disciplines is difficult at best and generally unattainable for most. Finally, analysis of large, disparate and distributed datasets is typically impossible for smaller institutions. We thus recommend the community develop an online discovery and analysis ecosystem for heliophysics to address these barriers to progress.Authorship R. Ringuette, E.Engell, O. Gerland, and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
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Title The LIKED Resource - A Library KnowledgE and Discovery online resource for discovering and implementing knowledge, data, and infrastructure resources.Description The heliophysics discipline currently suffers from a lack of structure for discovery of basic knowledge, access to expert help and collaborators, example analysis tutorials, and discovery of data, catalogs, models, software, and funding opportunities. The educational resources currently available only satisfy the most basic questions, and typically do not connect to more advanced information or lead to connections with researchers. Contact information typically found on publications is not always current, impairing possible connections between newer researchers and cross-disciplinary researchers and those already established in the field. Example analysis tutorials do exist in some places but are difficult to discover as they are commonly buried in software tutorials. Although data and models are recently more discoverable due to the efforts of the community and the archive centers, finding the appropriate software and funding opportunities is notoriously difficult. Even so, there remain many datasets and models not hosted at these archives that are difficult to find. Also, the heliophysics discipline lacks ‘What if’ interactive environments, which are becoming popular in the geosciences, precluding effective communication with budding scientists and policy and decision makers. To our shame, it has become a disappointing habit of many researchers in heliophysics to begin their research of a topic on Wikipedia for lack of a better resource. This should not be so. We recommend addressing these issues by developing a discipline-wide, community-verified online library resource discovery website.Authorship R. Ringuette and B. ThompsonContact Rebecca Ringuette ([email protected]) |
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Title Accessibility and inclusive development for solar flares radiation exposureDescription The solar flares radiation exposure causes impacts and effects on the health of the human individuals who are exposed to this solar energy. This leads to the creation of new innovations built in the subject areas of Accessibility and inclusive development in the platform channels of information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics. Also this Innovative ideology is extracted to a variety of different sectors, namely, the food systems and the smart agriculture. An innovative ideology product solution is provided in the website URL and link which is mentioned here below:- https://solarflaresandthefoodcrops.webnode.inAuthorship Ashwini Sathnur, NASA SBAG working group MemberContact Ashwini Sathnur ([email protected]) |
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Title Measuring Neutral Hydrogen Properties around the Heliospheric InterfaceDescription The recommendation of this white paper is to support development and deployment-to-space of a high-resolution spectrograph in order to distinguish the three populations of H atoms that directly interact at the interface of the heliosheath, the region where the solar wind is subsonic. A required resolution of 3 – 10 km/s at H Lyman- would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM), inner and outer heliosheath populations, and enable characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1 – 1000 AU. This new science would directly complement the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, New Horizons, and Interstellar Probe mission observations. The scientific yield would directly support NASA goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth; how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium; and determining what boundaries of the heliosphere look like.Authorship Majd Mayyasi, John Clarke, Eric Quémerais, Olga Katushkina, Vlad Izmodenov, Elena Provornikova, Justyna Sokół,, Pontus Brandt, André Galli, Merav Opher, Marc Kornbleuth, Jeff Linsky, Brian WoodContact Majd Mayyasi ([email protected]) |
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Title Space Science Data and AI-readiness by 2050Description Numerous ground-based and space-borne measurements of the various phenomena and events in space and on earth have accumulated a multitude of time series data and imagery. Extracting information or knowledge discovery from such extensive sets of data in the space sciences is a formidable task but the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the analysis and interpretation of these data easier. However, preparing the data as input for the AI algorithms is the primary challenge in leveraging the extremely powerful AI methods. The data preparation, more commonly referred to as AI-readiness in the community, includes (1) collection (accessibility and downloading) of appropriate data, existing at different locations or data repositories, that represent the various physical parameters associated with the phenomenon (or event) under study; (2) addressing the data format (e.g., conversion from one format to another), standardization of metadata, keywords and data-pipeline, data gaps, and labelling; and (3) data normalization, detrending and other processing of the raw data, and data modeling. Since the volume of space science data available today is enormous (and rapidly increasing), and the data required for a specific problem may not be AI-ready for another problem even in the same domain, making all the data AI-ready within the time-frame of a decade may not be the ideal solution, if not impractical. Better and unambiguous definition of AI-readiness (of space science data), prioritization of the various kinds of data, their storage and accessibility, and identifying the responsible entity (agencies, private sector or funded individuals) are the essential aspects that need to be addressed, along with the necessary steps to achieve this, in the next decadal survey so that either the data or the methods for easily accessing them (e.g., open source software for fetching/accessing the data) are available by 2050 - this submission focusses on these aspects.Authorship Bala Poduval, R. L. McPherron, R. Walker, C. Shneider, M. Himes, P. Wintoft, S. Kapali, K. Pitman, A. K. Tiwari, O. Verkhoglyadova, M. Georgoulis, J. Borovsky, A. Azari, J. Liu, T. Alberti, M. Dainotti, A. Pollo, R. D'Amicis, S. Wing, J. Johnson, M. BaliContact Bala Poduval ([email protected]) |
