Our primary goal is to understand the local interstellar medium (ISM) as probed by the voyager interstellar mission (VIM) in terms of a global picture for the ISM that includes multiple gas phases…

This federal contract award was granted to Cornell University by a civilian agency, the Shared Services Center, to analyze data from the Voyager Interstellar Mission and model the local interstellar medium (ISM) structure. The $354,969.81 grant is for a research project that aims to better characterize the interstellar turbulence near the heliospheric boundary. The project will analyze in-situ Voyager data, compare it to pulsar observations, and model the local ISM structure. This work aligns with Goal 3 of the Heliophysics Decadal Survey and supports future NASA interstellar missions. The award does not have a set-aside designation, indicating Cornell's broad capabilities to compete for federal research contracts. Cornell University is serving as the prime contractor, with graduate student support and collaboration from faculty members Chatterjee and Cordes.

Our primary goal is to understand the local interstellar medium (ISM) as probed by the voyager interstellar mission (VIM) in terms of a global picture for the ISM that includes multiple gas phases and, in particular, residence of the solar system in a low-density cloud in a local hot bubble extending past nearby STARS. Local plasma densities (from VIM) and inferred densities and magnetic fields from long lines of sight to pulsars will be analyzed in terms of the density power spectrum and magnetic-field/density correlations. We will also use extant multi-epoch observations of BOW shocks around pulsars produced by their relativistic winds and supersonic motions. The specific activities of the project are to (1) analyze VIM data with particular emphasis on the local interstellar electron density and magnetic field events (2) better characterize the wavenumber spectrum (3) compare in situ results with pulsar data on a variety of lines of sight and (4) model local ISM structure using all data. The proposal team includes members who obtained scattering, parallax, and BOW-shock data (chatterjee, cordes) and have used IT for large scale galactic modeling (cordes). CO-i chatterjee will aggregate data and, with PI cordes, will mentor the graduate student, who will analyze voyager data in collaboration with CO-i spangler, who has worked on data and theory for both the ISM and the interplanetary medium, including characterization of interstellar turbulence, and will serve as a liaison with the instrument team at u. Iowa for the plasma diagnostic experiment on the voyager spacecraft. Understanding the local ISM and solar-ISM interactions with reference to large-scale properties is closely aligned to goal 3 of the heliophysics decadal survey and any future interstellar missions by NASA.