Plasma Physics seminar

Title : Outstanding Questions of Solar Wind Physics
Speaker Name: Nicholeen Viall
Speaker Institution : Goddard Space Flight Center
Abstract : The atmosphere of the Sun, the solar corona, is hundreds of times hotter than the visible surface below. The details of the physical mechanisms involved in energizing the solar atmosphere continue to elude scientists. This plasma flows outward from the Sun, becoming the solar wind, where it reaches supersonic and super-Alfvénic speeds, filling the solar system. There have been remote observations of the solar corona for centuries, and in situ measurements of the solar wind for almost 60 years. Computer simulation capabilities have commenced, and simulation techniques of the coupling between the solar atmosphere and solar wind continue to advance. Yet there are longstanding, major unsolved issues involving universal physical processes such as magnetic reconnection, turbulence, and waves. We discuss a recent review of several aspects of these questions, and future prospects with the Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, and Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere missions.