The Physics of Solar Energetic Particles and Their Detection
Open AccessThe underlying mechanisms that accelerate solar energetic particles (SEP) are not completely understood despite decades of measurements and characterizations. There are a variety of processes in which particles can be accelerated at the Sun. These acceleration processes become obscured due to the effects of particle transport through the heliosphere. Until recently, all particle measurements in space have taken place far from the Sun, mostly in near-Earth orbit, and few nearer to the Sun than the orbit of Mercury. Evidence of particle acceleration comes from direct in-situ measurements of SEPs that propagate into the heliosphere and from measurements of neutral particles and radiation produced by interactions of charged particles. Measurements of neutrons and $\gamma$-rays provide signatures of the source of the acceleration, particularly as they are unaffected by magnetic fields. A two-pronged approach of directly measuring particles that are accelerated in solar eruptive events and escape the corona into interplanetary space together with measuring secondary neutral particles and radiation produced by particles trapped on closed field lines within the solar corona is necessary to fully understand the processes that accelerate SEPs and their transport through the interplanetary medium. To make significant progress in understanding particle acceleration at the Sun, I took advantage of the discovery data set provided by the NASA Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission. This also included significant effort in the in-flight calibration of the Parker Solar Probe energetic particle instruments. In addition, I performed calibration and analysis of a novel neutron spectrometer designed for neutron detection and spectroscopy on SmallSat/CubeSat or probe platforms. This instrument has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of solar neutron production and address long-standing questions in the field of solar neutron spectroscopy. This work represents a carefully chosen mixture of instrumentation and analysis intended to prepare me for a career as an experimental physicist and to make significant impact on the field of particle heliophysics.
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Mitchell_gwu_0075A_16196.pdf | 2023-11-14 | Open Access |
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