C. Drews

Kiel University

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The Energetic Particle Detector

Astronomy and Astrophysics (2019)

J. Rodrı́guez-Pacheco R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber G. M. Mason G. C. Ho Sebastián Sánchez

After decades of observations of solar energetic particles from space-based observatories, relevant questions on particle injection, transport, and acceleration remain open. To address these scientific topics, accurate measurements of the particle properties in the inner heliosphere are needed. In this paper we describe the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), an instrument suite that is part of the scientific payload aboard the Solar Orbiter mission. Solar Orbiter will approach the Sun as close as 0.28 au and will provide extra-ecliptic measurements beyond ∼30° heliographic latitude during the later stages of the mission. The EPD will measure electrons, protons, and heavy ions with high temporal resolution over a wide energy range, from suprathermal energies up to several hundreds of megaelectronvolts/nucleons. For this purpose, EPD is composed of four units: the SupraThermal Electrons and Protons (STEP), the Electron Proton Telescope (EPT), the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph (SIS), and the High-Energy Telescope (HET) plus the Instrument Control Unit that serves as power and data interface with the spacecraft. The low-energy population of electrons and ions will be covered by STEP and EPT, while the high-energy range will be measured by HET. Elemental and isotopic ion composition measurements will be performed by SIS and HET, allowing full particle identification from a few kiloelectronvolts up to several hundreds of megaelectronvolts/nucleons. Angular information will be provided by the separate look directions from different sensor heads, on the ecliptic plane along the Parker spiral magnetic field both forward and backwards, and out of the ecliptic plane observing both northern and southern hemispheres. The unparalleled observations of EPD will provide key insights into long-open and crucial questions about the processes that govern energetic particles in the inner heliosphere.

Ecliptic

Solar energetic particles

Heliosphere

10.1051/0004-6361/201935287

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Citations (151)

Particle Energization in Turbulent Plasmas

EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (2017)

R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber Rami Vainio J. Steinhagen Alexandr Afanasiev L. Berger

Particle (ecology)

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Interstellar He+ Ring-Beam Distributions: Observations and Implications

AGUFM (2013)

C. Drews L. Berger R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber A. B. Galvin

[1] We report systematic measurements of the distribution of the incident angle of interstellar pickup He+ ions as observed by STEREO/Plasma and Supra-Thermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC). We have organized these observations according to the angle spanned by the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), B→, and the bulk solar wind velocity, vsw→. Our measurements show clear evidence of a relatively local injection of He+ pickup ions into the solar wind, which are then seen as a ring distribution perpendicular to B→. Changes of the spectral shape and a reduced flux of interstellar He+ during radial IMF configuration, as observed by, e.g., Ulysses/Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS), SOHO/Charge Time-Of-Flight (CTOF), Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers/SUprathermaL Energy Ionic Charge Analyzer (SULEICA), have generally been attributed to inefficient scattering across 90° pitch-angle. Our observations of the pitch-angle distribution of interstellar He+ suggest that these changes are instead a result of locally injected pickup ions that escape detection for IMF configuration in which the Solar Wind Sector of PLASTIC, as well as SWICS, CTOF, and SULEICA, are not sensitive to the measurement of the locally injected pickup ion ring.

Pitch angle

Heliosphere

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The Solar Orbiter Mission: an Energetic Particle Perspective

arXiv (Cornell University) (2017)

R. Gómez‐Herrero J. Rodrı́guez-Pacheco R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber G. M. Mason Sebastián Sánchez

Solar Orbiter is a joint ESA-NASA mission planed for launch in October 2018. The science payload includes remote-sensing and in-situ instrumentation designed with the primary goal of understanding how the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere. The spacecraft will follow an elliptical orbit around the Sun, with perihelion as close as 0.28 AU. During the late orbit phase the orbital plane will reach inclinations above 30 degrees, allowing direct observations of the solar polar regions. The Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) is an instrument suite consisting of several sensors measuring electrons, protons and ions over a broad energy interval (2 keV to 15 MeV for electrons, 3 keV to 100 MeV for protons and few tens of keV/nuc to 450 MeV/nuc for ions), providing composition, spectra, timing and anisotropy information. We present an overview of Solar Orbiter from the energetic particle perspective, summarizing the capabilities of EPD and the opportunities that these new observations will provide for understanding how energetic particles are accelerated during solar eruptions and how they propagate through the Heliosphere.

Orbiter

Heliosphere

Solar energetic particles

10.48550/arxiv.1701.04057

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Citations (9)

The Composition of Inner-source Heavy Pickup Ions: SOHO/CELIAS/CTOF Results

AGUFM (2014)

A. Taut L. Berger P. Bochsler C. Drews B. Klecker

Pickup

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Interstellar Pickup Ions at 1 AU with STEREO/PLASTIC

C. Drews

In this thesis, interstellar pickup ions at 1 astronomical unit are analysed with the PLAsma and SupraThermal Ion Composition instrument (PLASTIC) on board the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). Interstellar pickup ions originate from the neutral component of the Local InterStellar Medium (LISM), which enters the heliosphere with a velocity of 25 km/s as a result of its relative motion with respect to our Sun. This neutral wind is gradually ionized by charge exchange with the solar wind, by solar ultraviolet radiation, or more rarely, by electron impact and thus acts as the seed population for interstellar pickup ions. The freshly created ions are 'picked up' by the interplanetary magnetic eld that is frozen into the solar wind and rapidly acquire speeds equaling the solar wind speed in a solar wind frame of reference. More importantly, these pickup ions carry information on the LISM and provide an excellent opportunity to study the LISM in-situ.

Heliosphere

Energetic neutral atom

Pickup

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The Pickup Ion Cutoff Shift In Stream interaction Regions and Generally Variable Solar Wind Conditions

42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly (2018)

J. Bower Martin Lee N. A. Schwadron E. Möbius A. Taut

Pickup

Cut-off

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