Exploring Large-Scale Current Sheets Associated With Coronal Mass Ejections

The Principal Investigator (PI) will investigate the detailed dynamics and structure of plasma sheets associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), by analyzing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) data and hard X-ray (HXR) data from spacecraft. The PI notes that the physics of current sheets is an important component in our study of CMEs and the magnetic reconnection process, and that recent spacecraft data provide an unprecedented opportunity to advance this type of research and to address key scientific questions. To this end, the PI will specifically use this data to determine how these plasma sheets form, whether they are pre-existent or are formed only after the onset of a CME eruption, whether the plasma sheets seen in EUV and the 'post-CME rays' seen in white light are the same structures, and what role these current sheets play in CME acceleration and solar flare energy release.

Since magnetic reconnection is one of the fundamental processes in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas, this work will enhance our theoretical understanding of a phenomenon that is crucial to multiple scientific disciplines. In the solar physics context, the magnetic energy released by reconnection events in the solar atmosphere drives space weather and a better of understanding of this process will improve the nation's space weather forecasts for the benefit of society. The project will support the professional development of a young solar physicist, and this research will have an educational impact through its incorporation into the undergraduate curriculum in classrooms at NJIT.