This investigation has three scientific objectives. The first objective is to investigate the methods that waves are created in the solar wind. The second objective is to characterize the physical…

This federal contract award was granted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to the Space Science Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Boulder, Colorado. The $233,641 grant is funding a research investigation with three key objectives: (1) studying the methods by which waves are created in the solar wind, (2) characterizing the physical attributes of those waves, and (3) examining how the waves interact with the heavy ion population in the solar wind. The overall goal is to improve the understanding of wave-particle interactions in the solar wind. The research will involve comparative analyses of observed plasma waves, the bi-maxwellian proton distribution, proton-alpha speed differentials, and the response of heavy ions to the observed waves. There is no set-aside designation for this contract, which was awarded on April 14, 2017 and has a completion date of April 13, 2020.

This investigation has three scientific objectives. The first objective is to investigate the methods that waves are created in the solar wind. The second objective is to characterize the physical attributes of waves in the solar wind. The third objective is study how waves interact with the heavy ION population in the solar wind. DR. Broiles will participate in all three goals, but will be most active in goals 1 and 3. The overall goal of this investigation is to understand how wave-particle interactions work in the solar wind. In order to accomplish this, the investigation is broken down into two studies: (1) a comparison of observed plasma waves to the BI-maxwellian proton distribution, and speed differential between protons and alphas, (2) a comparison between observed waves and the heavy ION speed and temperature response. DR. Broiles will perform most of the data analysis on the plasma data, and will provide interpretation of results for CO-i's, LAN jian and peter gary. A series of studies will be performed once a large list of waves have been identified, and if significant, will be presented at scientific meetings and published in peer-reviewed journals.