The Galileo Dust Detector

The Galileo Dust Detector is intended to provide direct observations of dust grains with masses between 10^-19 and 10^-9 kg in interplanetary space and in the Jovian system, to investigate their physical and dynamical properties as functions of the distances to the Sun, to Jupiter and to its satellites, to study its interaction with the Galilean satellites and the Jovian magnetosphere. Surface phenomena of the satellites (like albedo variations), which might be effects of meteoroid impacts will be compared with the dust environment. Electric charges of particulate matter in the magnetosphere and its consequences will be studied; e.g., the effects of the magnetic field on the trajectories of dust particles and fragmentation of particles due to electrostatic disruption. The investigation is performed with an instrument that measures the mass, speed, flight direction and electric charge of individual dust particles. It is a multicoincidence detector with a mass sensitivity 10⁶ times higher than that of previous in-situ experiments which measured dust in the outer solar system. The instrument weighs 4.2 kg, consumes 2.4 W, and has a normal data transmission rate of 24 bits s^-1 in nominal spacecraft tracking mode. On December 29, 1989 the instrument was switched-on. After the instrument had been configured to flight conditions cruise science data collection started immediately. In the period to May 18, 1990 at least 168 dust impacts have been recorded. For 81 of these dust grains masses and impact speeds have been determined. First flux values are given.     

Solar Energetic Particles

In this brief review, we summarize the current state of knowledge of solar energetic particles. This includes energetic particles contained within the site of solar flares that are responsible for X-ray, γ-ray and neutron emission and particles accelerated at high coronal altitudes and in interplanetary space by travelling disturbances such as coronal mass ejections. Special emphasis is placed on those particles directly or indirectly associated with neutron monitor signals. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Two Sources of Solar Energetic Particles

Evidence for two different physical mechanisms for acceleration of solar energetic particles (SEPs) arose 50 years ago with radio observations of type III bursts, produced by outward streaming electrons, and type II bursts from coronal and interplanetary shock waves. Since that time we have found that the former are related to “impulsive” SEP events from impulsive flares or jets. Here, resonant stochastic acceleration, related to magnetic reconnection involving open field lines, produces not only electrons but 1000-fold enhancements of ³He/⁴He and of (Z>50)/O. Alternatively, in “gradual” SEP events, shock waves, driven out from the Sun by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), more democratically sample ion abundances that are even used to measure the coronal abundances of the elements. Gradual events produce by far the highest SEP intensities near Earth. Sometimes residual impulsive suprathermal ions contribute to the seed population for shock acceleration, complicating the abundance picture, but this process has now been modeled theoretically. Initially, impulsive events define a point source on the Sun, selectively filling few magnetic flux tubes, while gradual events show extensive acceleration that can fill half of the inner heliosphere, beginning when the shock reaches ～2 solar radii. Shock acceleration occurs as ions are scattered back and forth across the shock by resonant Alfvén waves amplified by the accelerated protons themselves as they stream away. These waves also can produce a streaming-limited maximum SEP intensity and plateau region upstream of the shock. Behind the shock lies the large expanse of the “reservoir”, a spatially extensive trapped volume of uniform SEP intensities with invariant energy-spectral shapes where overall intensities decrease with time as the enclosing “magnetic bottle” expands adiabatically. These reservoirs now explain the slow intensity decrease that defines gradual events and was once erroneously attributed solely to slow outward diffusion of the particles. At times the reservoir from one event can contribute its abundances and even its spectra as a seed population for acceleration by a second CME-driven shock wave. Confinement of particles to magnetic flux tubes that thread their source early in events is balanced at late times by slow velocity-dependent migration through a tangled network produced by field-line random walk that is probed by SEPs from both impulsive and gradual events and even by anomalous cosmic rays from the outer heliosphere. As a practical consequence, high-energy protons from gradual SEP events can be a significant radiation hazard to astronauts and equipment in space and to the passengers of high-altitude aircraft flying polar routes.     

Energetic Particles Investigation (EPI)

The Energetic Particles Investigation (EPI) instrument operates during the pre-entry phase of the Galileo Probe. The major science objective is to study the energetic particle population in the innermost regions of the Jovian magnetosphere — within 4 radii of the cloud tops — and into the upper atmosphere. To achieve these objectives the EPI instrument will make omnidirectional measurements of four different particle species — electrons, protons, alpha-particles, and heavy ions (Z > 2). Intensity profiles with a spatial resolution of about 0.02 Jupiter radii will be recorded. Three different energy range channels are allocated to both electrons and protons to provide a rough estimate of the spectral index of the energy spectra. In addition to the omnidirectional measurements, sectored data will be obtained for certain energy range electrons, protons, and alpha-particles to determine directional anisotropies and particle pitch angle distributions. The detector assembly is a two-element telescope using totally depleted, circular silicon surfacebarrier detectors surrounded by a cylindrical tungsten shielding with a wall thickness of 4.86 g cm^-2. The telescope axis is oriented normal to the spherical surface of the Probe's rear heat shield which is needed for heat protection of the scientific payload during the Probe's entry into the Jovian atmosphere. The material thickness of the heat shield determines the lower energy threshold of the particle species investigated during the Probe's pre-entry phase. The EPI instrument is combined with the Lightning and Radio Emission Detector (LRD) such that the EPI sensor is connected to the LRD/EPI electronic box. In this way, both instruments together only have one interface of the Probe's power, command, and data unit.     

The Seed Population for Energetic Particles Accelerated by CME-Driven Shocks

Understanding properties of solar energetic particle (SEP) events associated with coronal mass ejections has been identified as a key problem in solar-terrestrial physics. Although recent CME shock acceleration models are highly promising, detailed agreement between theoretical predictions and observations has remained elusive. Recent observations from ACE have shown substantial enrichments in the abundances of ³He and He⁺ ions which are extremely rare in the thermal solar wind plasma. Consequently, these ions act as tracers of their source material, i.e., ³He ions are flare suprathermals and He⁺ ions are interstellar pickup ions. The average heavy ion composition also exhibits unsystematic differences when compared with the solar wind values, but correlates significantly with the ambient suprathermal material abundances. Taken together these results provide compelling evidence that CME-driven shocks draw their source material from the ubiquitous but largely unexplored suprathermal tail rather than from the more abundant solar wind peak. However, the suprathermal energy regime has many more contributors and exhibits much larger variability than the solar wind, and as such needs to be investigated more thoroughly. Answers to fundamental new questions regarding the preferred injection of the suprathermal ions, the spatial and temporal dependence of the various sources, and the causes of their variability and their effects on the SEP properties are needed to improve agreement between the simulations and observations.     

An Introduction to CMEs and Energetic Particles

Energetic particle observations in the interplanetary medium provide fundamental information about the origin, development and structure of coronal mass ejections. This paper reviews the status of our understanding of the ways in which particles are energised at the Sun in association with CMEs. This understanding will remain incomplete until the relationship between CMEs and flares is determined and we know the topology of the associated magnetic fields. The paper also discusses the characteristics of interplanetary CMEs that may be probed using particle observations.     

Solar Energetic Particles: Sampling Coronal Abundances

In the large solar energetic particle (SEP) events, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) drive shock waves out through the corona that accelerate elements of the ambient material to MeV energies in a fairly democratic, temperature-independent manner. These events provide the most complete source of information on element abundances in the corona. Relative abundances of 22 elements from H through Zn display the well-known dependence on the first ionization potential (FIP) that distinguishes coronal and photospheric material. For most elements, the main abundance variations depend upon the gyrofrequency, and hence on the charge-to-mass ratio, Q/A, of the ion. Abundance variations in the dominant species, H and He, are not Q/A dependent, presumably because of non-linear wave-particle interactions of H and He during acceleration. Impulsive flares provide a different sample of material that confirms the Ne:Mg:Si and He/C abundances in the corona. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Solar Isotopic Composition as Determined Using Solar Energetic Particles

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) provide a sample of the Sun from which solar composition may be determined. Using high-resolution measurements from the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) onboard NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft, we have studied the isotopic composition of SEPs at energies ≥20 MeV/nucleon in large SEP events. We present SEP isotope measurements of C, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Fe, and Ni made in 49 large events from late 1997 to the present. The isotopic composition is highly variable from one SEP event to another due to variations in seed particle composition or due to mass fractionation that occurs during the acceleration and/or transport of these particles. We show that various isotopic and elemental enhancements are correlated with each other, discuss the empirical corrections used to account for the compositional variability, and obtain estimated solar isotopic abundances. We compare the solar values and their uncertainties inferred from SEPs with solar wind and other solar system abundances and find generally good agreement.     

The Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instrument (JEDI) Investigation for the Juno Mission

The Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instruments (JEDI) on the Juno Jupiter polar-orbiting, atmosphere-skimming, mission to Jupiter will coordinate with the several other space physics instruments on the Juno spacecraft to characterize and understand the space environment of Jupiter’s polar regions, and specifically to understand the generation of Jupiter’s powerful aurora. JEDI comprises 3 nearly-identical instruments and measures at minimum the energy, angle, and ion composition distributions of ions with energies from H:20 keV and O: 50 keV to >1 MeV, and the energy and angle distribution of electrons from <40 to >500 keV. Each JEDI instrument uses microchannel plates (MCP) and thin foils to measure the times of flight (TOF) of incoming ions and the pulse height associated with the interaction of ions with the foils, and it uses solid state detectors (SSD’s) to measure the total energy (E) of both the ions and the electrons. The MCP anodes and the SSD arrays are configured to determine the directions of arrivals of the incoming charged particles. The instruments also use fast triple coincidence and optimum shielding to suppress penetrating background radiation and incoming UV foreground. Here we describe the science objectives of JEDI, the science and measurement requirements, the challenges that the JEDI team had in meeting these requirements, the design and operation of the JEDI instruments, their calibrated performances, the JEDI inflight and ground operations, and the initial measurements of the JEDI instruments in interplanetary space following the Juno launch on 5 August 2011. Juno will begin its prime science operations, comprising 32 orbits with dimensions 1.1×40 RJ, in mid-2016.     

CIR Associated Energetic Particles in the Inner and Middle Heliosphere

Energetic particles associated with Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) are observed throughout the inner and middle heliosphere, showing large positive (>100%/AU) radial intensity gradients. Their appearance at 1 AU is associated with the appearance of fast, recurrent solar wind streams. At several AU, CIR energetic particles are accelerated at shocks which propagate away from the interface of fast and slow solar wind streams. CIR energy spectra at 1 AU cover the range >35 keV to several MeV/amu; the spectra steepen above ∼1 MeV/amu, and show no turnover even at the lowest energies. The ion composition of CIRs is similar to solar material, but with significant differences that might be due to properties of the seed population and/or the acceleration process. This paper summarizes properties of energetic particles in CIRs as known through the early 1990s, prior to the launch of the Ulysses, and WIND spacecraft, whose new results are presented in Kunow, Lee et al. (1999) in this volume. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mechanisms for Latitudinal Transport of Energetic Particles in the Heliosphere

Energetic particles in the heliosphere, from relatively low-energy particles which are accelerated in Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) to galactic cosmic rays, are observed to propagate relatively easily in heliographic latitude. Two mechanisms for this transport appear possible: cross-field diffusion, or, in a recent model for the heliospheric magnetic field, by direct magnetic connection. The commonalties and differences of these two mechanisms are considered, and the need for future observations and modeling efforts are discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

CIR Morphology, Turbulence, Discontinuities, and Energetic Particles

Corotating interaction regions (CIRs) in the middle heliosphere have distinct morphological features and associated patterns of turbulence and energetic particles. This report summarizes current understanding of those features and patterns, discusses how they can vary from case to case and with distance from the Sun and possible causes of those variations, presents an analytical model of the morphological features found in earlier qualitative models and numerical simulations, and identifies aspects of the features and patterns that have yet to be resolved. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Solar Elemental Composition Based on Studies of Solar Energetic Particles

Solar abundances can be derived from the composition of the solar wind and solar energetic particles (SEPs) as well as obtained through spectroscopic means. Past comparisons have suggested that all three samples agree well, when rigidity-related fractionation effects on the SEPs were accounted for. It has been known that such effects vary from one event to the next and should be addressed on an event-by-event basis. This paper examines event variability more closely, particularly in terms of energy-dependent SEP abundances. This is now possible using detailed SEP measurements spanning several decades in energy from the Ultra Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer (ULEIS) and the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) on the ACE spacecraft. We present examples of the variability of the elemental composition with energy and suggest they can be understood in terms of diffusion from the acceleration region near the interplanetary shock. By means of a spectral scaling procedure, we obtain energy-independent abundance ratios for 14 large SEP events and compare them to reported solar wind and coronal abundances as well as to previous surveys of SEP events.     

Energetic Particles and Corotating Interaction Regions in the Solar Wind

This paper reviews three important effects on energetic particles of corotating interaction regions (CIRs) in the solar wind that are formed at the leading edges of high-speed solar wind streams originating in coronal holes. A brief overview of CIRs and their important features is followed by a discussion of CIR-associated modulations in the galactic cosmic ray intensity, with an emphasis on observations made by spacecraft particle telescope ‘anti-coincidence’ guards. Such guards combine high counting rates (hundreds of counts/s) and a lower rigidity response than neutron monitors to provide detailed information on the relationship between cosmic ray modulations and CIR structure. The modulation of Jovian electrons by CIRs is then described. Finally, the acceleration of ions to energies of ～20 MeV/n in the vicinity of CIRs is reviewed.     

Long-Term Fluences of Solar Energetic Particles from H to Fe

Data from ACE and GOES have been used to measure Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) fluence spectra for H, He, O, and Fe, over the period from October 1997 to December 2005. The measurements were made by four instruments on ACE and the EPS sensor on three GOES satellites and extend in energy from ∼0.1 MeV/nuc to ∼100 MeV/nuc. Fluence spectra for each species were fit by conventional forms and used to investigate how the intensities, composition, and spectral shapes vary from year to year.     

On the Differences in Composition between Solar Energetic Particles and Solar Wind

Although the average composition of solar energetic particles (SEPs) and the bulk solar wind are similar in a number of ways, there are key differences which imply that solar wind is not the principal seed population for SEPs accelerated by coronal mass ejection (CME) driven shocks. This paper reviews these composition differences and considers the composition of other possible seed populations, including coronal material, impulsive flare material, and interplanetary CME material.     

"伽利略"首颗卫星升空的战略意义

作为两颗"伽利略在轨验证元素"(GIOVE)试验卫星中的第一颗,Giove-A,于2005年12月28日当地时间上午11时19分在哈萨克斯坦拜科努尔航天中心发射升空,经过"弗雷盖特"(Fregat)上面级火箭的三次点火后,这颗由英国萨里卫星技术公司制造的试验卫星被送入了高23230千米、倾角56度的轨道.