The Principal Investigator (PI) will use the University of Michigan's well-developed Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) to perform self-consistent simulations that will address a number of scientific questions related to the properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the solar corona. Using existing and improved models of CME evolution, the interplanetary magnetic field, and the solar wind, the PI's team will compute directly observable quantities from their simulations. These quantities will then be compared with remote-sensing observations from both spacecraft and ground-based instruments, as well as with available in situ data from various spacecraft. The PI's team will determine the effect of the background magnetic field and reconnection events on CME rotation; how CMEs are deflected in the corona; how such deflections are affected by the presence of coronal holes and streamers; how the location of the CME source region with respect to the heliospheric current sheet might modify this deflection; what causes CME expansion and non-radial propagation to eventually cease; and what parameters determine the distance at which CME evolution becomes "ideal" and why this distance varies from CME to CME.
This research has the potential to improve our understanding of the basic physics of the inner heliosphere and outer corona, which in turn will enable improved space weather forecasts through better predictions of CME orientation, propagation direction, and spatial extent. The research team will disseminate their results to the heliophysics community by publication of scientific articles, as well as by participating in, and by organizing, topical workshops and conferences. The PI is a young research scientist who will involve undergraduate students in this work and who pledges to select, whenever possible, under-represented minority students. The PI will engage in public outreach through the "Hawaii Center for Advancing Systemic Heliophysics Education," taking special advantage of colorful graphics and movies produced his SWMF simulations. The project team consists of scientists from the University of New Hampshire, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, thereby enhancing university partnerships as well as academic collaboration with a federal laboratory.
