The PI will study the origin, acceleration, and propagation of transient solar burst electrons in the inner heliosphere from the Sun to the Earth. He also will investigate the energy spectra of electron bursts to better understand their solar origin. The PI has identified 375 impulsive solar electron burst events at suprathermal energies below 1.4 keV in the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) data, and he also notes that the Genesis spacecraft observed over 200 of these same events. The PI intends to identify and catalog characteristic features of these electron bursts as seen by ACE and Genesis, to include width of the electron pitch-angle distribution and energy spectrum before, during, and after the bursts.
Suprathermal electrons play a key role in the plasma and energetic particle phenomena observed in the heliosphere. Detailed analysis of solar electron bursts will increase our understanding of the physics that causes variability in their energy spectrum and beam width, as well as our knowledge of the processes by which suprathermal electrons are accelerated by solar eruptive events and how they propagate to the Earth. The study of energetic electrons thus contributes to SHINE program goals.
As public outreach, the PI will provide volunteer presentations to K-12 instructors, providing teachers with ideas and curriculum material that will help them involve more students in space science.
