Research Progress of Interplanetary Physics in Mainland China

Significant progress has been made by Chinese scientists in research of interplanetary physics during the recent two years (2018-2020). These achievements are reflected at least in the following aspects:Activities in solar corona and lower solar atmosphere; solar wind and turbulence; filament/prominence, jets, flares, and radio bursts; active regions and solar eruptions; coronal mass ejections and their interplanetary counterparts; other interplanetary structures; space weather prediction methods; magnetic reconnection; Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical modeling; solar energetic particles, cosmic rays, and Forbush decreases; machine learning methods in space weather and other aspects. More than one hundred and forty papers in the academic journals have been published in these research directions. These fruitful achievements are obtained by Chinese scholars in solar physics and space physics either independently or through international collaborations. They greatly improve people's understanding of solar activities, solar eruptions, the corresponding space weather effects, and the Sun-Earth relations. Here we will give a very brief review on the research progress. However, it must be pointed out that this paper may not completely cover all achievements in this field due to our limited knowledge.     

天基微小空间碎片探测研究

随着空间碎片数量的不断增多,天基微小空间碎片探测已经成为一个热点.首先介绍了空间碎片在低地球轨道上的分布情况以及它对于航天器的危害,然后介绍了国外微小碎片探测器的基本情况,并在这些探测结果的基础上提出了一个探测器方案.这种探测器的传感器采用了新型的压电材料聚偏二氟乙稀(PVDF),使用了飞行时间法(TOF)准确测定空间碎片的飞行速度,以及快脉冲分析系统分析碎片的质量.     

宁静和重现太阳风中的亚阿尔文波速流

本文例举观测实例说明,在宁静太阳风中或重现太阳风的低速流区,有可能形成行星际亚阿尔文波速流。这种流出现在阿尔文波速异常增强区,并与特定的磁场位形相联系。     

Strong geomagnetic activity forecast by neural networks under dominant southern orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field

The paper deals with the relation of the southern orientation of the north–south component _Bz$B_z$ of the interplanetary magnetic field to geomagnetic activity (GA) and subsequently a method is suggested of using the found facts to forecast potentially dangerous high GA. We have found that on a day with very high GA hourly averages of _Bz$B_z$ with a negative sign occur at least 16 times in typical cases. Since it is very difficult to estimate the orientation of _Bz$B_z$ in the immediate vicinity of the Earth one day or even a few days in advance, we have suggested using a neural-network model, which assumes the worse of the possibilities to forecast the danger of high GA – the dominant southern orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. The input quantities of the proposed model were information about X-ray flares, type II and IV radio bursts as well as information about coronal mass ejections (CME). In comparing the GA forecasts with observations, we obtain values of the Hanssen–Kuiper skill score ranging from 0.463 to 0.727, which are usual values for similar forecasts of space weather. The proposed model provides forecasts of potentially dangerous high geomagnetic activity should the interplanetary CME (ICME), the originator of geomagnetic storms, hit the Earth under the most unfavorable configuration of cosmic magnetic fields. We cannot know in advance whether the unfavorable configuration is going to occur or not; we just know that it will occur with the probability of 31%.     

A Prediction Method for△f0F2min of a Single Station From Interplanetary Parameters Based on Statistical Study

Using 86 CME-interplanetary shock events,the correlation between the peak values of （a） the solar wind parameters(B_z,E_y,P_dyn) and the geomagnetic indices（SYM-H,ASY-H,Kp）, （b） the coupling functions（Borovsky,Akasofu,Newell） and the geomagnetic indices,（c） the solar wind parameters/coupling functions/geomagnetic indices and the ionospheric parameter(Δf₀F_2min), are investigated.The statistical results show that in group（a）,B_{z min} and SYM-H_min have the best correlation,that in group（b）,the best correlation is between the peak values of Akasofu function (A_min) and SYM-H_min,and that in group（c）,the best correlation is between K_pmax andΔf₀F_2min. Based on the statistical results,a method for predicting f₀F₂ of a single station is attempted to be set up.The input is modified B_{z min} and the outputs are SYM-H_min andΔf₀F_2min.Then 25 CME-IPS events that caused geomagnetic storms in 1998 and 2009 are used to check the prediction method. The results show that our method can be used to predict SYM-H_min andΔf₀F_2min.     

基于T96模型的极尖区位形变化特性研究

基于T96模型,定义了极尖区的位形以及相关的描述参量(例如赤道向边界磁纬的最小值,纬向宽度,子午向和晨昏向的张角,倾斜度,扁平度,中心磁地方时等),讨论了太阳风动压(P_d)、行星际磁场(IMF)及磁暴强度对极尖区位形的影响.太阳风动压和磁暴强度越大,则极尖区的赤道向边界磁纬越小,纬向宽度越大,子午向和晨昏向的张角越大,倾斜度越大,扁平度越小;南向IMF B_z越强,则极尖区的赤道向边界磁纬越小,纬向宽度越小,子午向的张角越小,晨昏向的张角越大,倾斜度越大,扁平度越大;北向IMF B_z与南向IMF B_z的情况刚好相反;极尖区的中心磁地方时受IMF B_y控制,IMF B_y为正时,极尖区向昏侧移动,而IMF B_y为负时,极尖区则向晨侧移动,并且极尖区的中心磁地方时与IMF B_y之间有着良好的线性关系.将所得结果与前人的观测结果进行了简单比较,发现利用T96模型确定的极尖区位形与观测基本一致.     

A stationary bow shock model for plasmas: The spherical blunt obstacle problem

We present an analytic model of a stationary bow shock which describes the interaction between a supermagnetosonic ambient wind and an obstacle with spherical-like frontal shape. We develop expressions for the bow shock’s geometry and the physical properties of the plasma sheath as functions of the upstream conditions. The solution is limited to magnetic fields parallel to the upstream velocity. The model allows to use any value of the upstream alfvenic and sonic Mach numbers and the polytropic index (γ$\gamma$), pointing out the influence of γ$\gamma$ for the magnetosheath compression and the bow shock shape. When both Mach numbers are small, the upstream magnetic field intensity affects also the bow shock shape. We compare our results with other models finding important consistencies. We also compare our results with in-situ data, we fund a reasonable qualitative agreement; however, it seems that our model underestimates the magnetosheath size.     

Pioneer 10 Doppler data analysis: Disentangling periodic and secular anomalies

This paper reports the results of an analysis of the Doppler tracking data of Pioneer probes which did show an anomalous behaviour. A software has been developed for the sake of performing a data analysis as independent as possible from that of Anderson et al. [Anderson, J., Laing, P.A., Lau, E.L., Liu, A.S., Nieto, M.M., Turyshev, S.G. Study of the anomalous acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11. Phys. Rev. D 65, 082004, 2002], using the same data set. A first output of this new analysis is a confirmation of the existence of a secular anomaly with an amplitude about 0.8 nm s⁻² compatible with that reported by Anderson et al. A second output is the study of periodic variations of the anomaly, which we characterize as functions of the azimuthal angle φ$\phi$ defined by the directions Sun–Earth Antenna and Sun-Pioneer. An improved fit is obtained with periodic variations written as the sum of a secular acceleration and two sinusoids of the angles φ$\phi$ and 2φ$2\phi$. The tests which have been performed for assessing the robustness of these results are presented.     

根据行星际闪烁(IPS)的双频互谱估计太阳风速度

本文讨论了观测频率为232MHz和327MHz时,利用互谱的方法估计太阳风速度的可能性、考虑路径积分效应,结果表明在17°≤ε≤50°范围内,对于几种可能的太阳风速度分布,由互谱所得结果与太阳风速度值差别小于15%.