Commentary: Multimessenger Solar Astrophysics
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READERS’ FORUM Commentary Multimessenger solar astrophysics SOHO/EIT, SOHO/LASCO, SOHO/MDI (ESA & NASA) he term “multimessenger astron- omy”—combining different signals, T or messengers, from the same as - trophysical event to obtain a deeper un- derstanding of it—is in the air nowa- days, largely because of the remarkable success of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational- Wave Observatory (LIGO) in detecting gravitational waves1 (see PHYSICS TODAY, December 2017, page 19). Four messengers reach us from beyond the solar system: photons, neutrinos, cos- mic rays, and now gravitational waves. Lost amid the current buzz, though, is that the Sun produces many other messen- gers. What’s more, multimessenger solar astrophysics began as long ago as 1722, SOLAR MULTIMESSENGER when London clockmaker George Gra- EVENTS. Extreme- UV images ham noted a new solar messenger: diur- of the Sun (top), obtained nal variations in Earth’s magnetic field. by the Solar and Heliospheric Multimessenger information routinely Observatory spacecraft, forms a major part of current research in recorded two messages from solar and heliospheric physics. One such a solar flare: on the left, EUV example, shown in the figure, is a “snow- photons that arrived 8 minutes storm” of solar cosmic rays directly de- after the flare happened (the tected by a space- borne extreme- UV im- horizontal “bleed” is due to ager. Scott Forbush identified similar CCD saturation), and on the signals detected at ground- based cosmic- right, the “snowstorm” of solar ray stations in 1942 and 1946 as being cosmic rays that arrived soon due to energetic solar protons.2 Such dan- after and had filled the helios- gerous ionizing particles are a messenger phere within 12 hours later. no spacecraft or space traveler can afford (bottom) Magnetometers at to ignore. London’s Kew Observatory The first recognized messengers of un- recorded several messages during the solar flare and geomagnetic storm on 1–2 September usual solar activity were sunspots. The ar- 1859. (Bottom panel from S. Chapman, J. Bartels, Geomagnetism, 2nd ed., Oxford U. Press, rival in the 17th century of visual evidence 1962, p. 333.) of solar structure and rotation possibly caused as much scientific excitement then as the new gravitational- wave messen- for interpreting it: Maxwell’s equations ger has today. As additional messengers and the independent characterization of Letters and commentary are encouraged from the Sun arrived over the centuries, the ionosphere and solar wind. CONTACT and should be sent by email to they were not always recognized as such Other variations of the geomagnetic [email protected] (using your surname because the physics had not yet been un- field allow the detection of sunspots— PHYSICS as the Subject line), or by standard mail derstood. Graham’s diurnal geomagnetic and would do so even if terrestrial clouds to Letters, PHYSICS TODAY, American variations, for example, are now known never parted. Swiss sunspot- research TODAY Center for Physics, One Physics Ellipse, to be a signature of ionization that is pro- patriarch Rudolf Wolf in 1859 famously College Park, MD 20740-3842. Please duced by solar EUV radiation and wrote, “Wer hätte noch vor wenigen include your name, work affiliation, mailing address, email dragged across Earth’s magnetic field by Jahren an die Möglichkeit gedacht, aus address, and daytime phone number on your letter and high- altitude thermal winds. That mes- den Sonnenfleckenbeobachtungen ein attachments. You can also contact us online at sage has now been translated, and we terrestrisches Phänomen zu berech- http://contact.physicstoday.org. We reserve the right to have most of the physical and phenom- nen?”3 (“Who would have thought just a edit submissions. enological basis (far in the future in 1722) few years ago, about the possibility of 10 PHYSICS TODAY | FEBRUARY 2019 computing a terrestrial phenomenon from observations of sunspots?”) MBE ^ŽůƵƟŽŶƐĨŽƌdžƉůŽƌĂƚŽƌLJ Those early discoveries initiated mul- timessenger exploration of the quiet Sun. DĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚ In addition to individual photons, lep- tons, and cosmic rays, we also receive or- ganized plasma structures, such as the solar wind and various current systems M Series in Earth’s ionosphere, each of which trans- ǀĂƉŽƌĂƟŽŶ^LJƐƚĞŵƐ mits its own messages. The information they’ve delivered has allowed us to learn a great deal about the magnetic history ///Ͳs͕//Ͳs/͕^ŝͲD of the Sun, including the behavior of the KdžŝĚĞ͕EŝƚƌŝĚĞΘ still poorly understood 22- year Hale cycle of global polarity changes in alter- ^ƵůƉŚŝĚĞƐ nate 11- year sunspot cycles. Other kinds of messengers debuted in KƌŐĂŶŝĐD conjunction with the first recognized solar flare.4 As shown in the figure, magne- tometers on 1 September 1859 recorded ƉƉůŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƐ a short, sharp jump in Earth’s field—a “geomagnetic crochet”—as solar x rays EĂŶŽΘKƉƚŽĞůĞĐƚƌŽŶŝĐƐ triggered enhanced currents in the iono- sphere. Fourteen hours after those mes- dŚŝŶ&ŝůŵ^ŽůĂƌĞůůƐ sages were received, there arrived a phys- ical object now known as a coronal mass ,ĞƵƐůĞƌůůŽLJƐ ejection (CME), well recognizable in the direct geomagnetic record (accomplished ^ƉŝŶƚƌŽŶŝĐƐ without electronics!). Rather appropri- 2D Materials ately, the CME announced itself directly in the telegraph system, not in Morse code Instruments but by actually setting instruments on &ŽƌD'ƌŽǁƚŚ fire! That type of messenger could never reach us from the distant cosmos; it is in- trinsically local in the heliosphere. A third new messenger in the 1859 flare was an interplanetary shock wave, anal- ogous to those seen around supernovae, that preceded the CME and produced a distinct geomagnetic signature as it com- KdžLJŐĞŶͬEŝƚƌŽŐĞŶ ͲĞĂŵǀĂƉŽƌĂƚŽƌƐ DīƵƐŝŽŶĞůůƐ pressed Earth’s magnetosphere. A fourth ƚŽŵ^ŽƵƌĐĞƐ messenger produced by flare and CME disturbances was recognized only in 1942: Forbush’s solar energetic particles. As our knowledge of physics grew stronger over recent decades, the list of KƌŐĂŶŝĐǀĂƉŽƌĂƚŽƌƐEĂŶŽƉĂƌƚŝĐůĞ^ŽƵƌĐĞƐ 'ĂƐƌĂĐŬĞƌƐ solar messengers expanded. It now in- cludes neutrinos from the solar core; the ŽŵĞĂŶĚƚĂůŬƚŽƵƐĂƚ͗ solar gravity field, revealed in the preces- sion of Mercury’s perihelion, with impli- APS, ŽƐƚŽŶ͕D͕h^Ͳbooth 217 cations for general relativity; and possi- DPG,ZĞŐĞŶƐďƵƌŐ͕'ĞƌŵĂŶLJͲbooths 10 and 11 bly axions. The axion messenger as yet is only hypothetical; many research pro- grams are searching the possible param- ĞƐŝŐŶĞĚĨŽƌhŶƌŝǀĂůůĞĚWĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ eter space, and its discovery would have far- reaching consequences in many fields ƐĂůĞƐΛŵĂŶƟƐͲƐŝŐŵĂ͘ĐŽŵ of physics and astrophysics. For solar ǁǁǁ͘ŵĂŶƟƐĚĞƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ͘ĐŽŵ physics, the axion messenger would pro- vide unique information not only about the solar interior but also about how the FEBRUARY 2019 | PHYSICS TODAY 11 READERS’ FORUM COOLFET® solar magnetic field penetrates the Sun’s Tower View Alternative High School photosphere and eventually extends be- here in Red Wing, Minnesota. The school yond Earth. Such information might help is housed on the campus of the Anderson to explain the modulation at Earth of the Center for the Arts, the legacy of Alexan- cosmic- ray flux, which has been recon- der Pierce Anderson (1862–1943). structed5 across the 9000 years of the Anderson invented a process to make Holocene epoch from yet another mes- puffed rice. The invention led to a suc- senger: deposits of the cosmogenic ra- cessful exhibit and demonstration of the Noise @ 0 pF: 670 eV FWHM (Si) dioisotopes carbon- 14 and beryllium- 10. process and the product at the 1904 ~76 electrons RMS Also on the messenger list for flare World’s Fair in St Louis, Missouri. The FET and CME events are energetic neutral Quaker Oats Company eventually used /PJTF4MPQFF7Q'XJUI-PX$iss atoms and free neutrons. Because of the Anderson’s process to manufacture F7Q'XJUIIJHI$ FET iss neutron’s finite half- life, only those with puffed rice for public consumption. Fast Rise Time: 2.5 ns sufficiently high energies will reach us. The Anderson Center staff always en- FEATURES For the same reason, neutron messengers courage teachers, students, and school t5IFSNPFMFDUSJDBMMZ$PPMFE'&5 from any source outside the solar system personnel to utilize the center and to in- t'&5TUPNBUDIEFUFDUPS cannot be detected. teract with visiting artists and writers as t-PXFTU/PJTFBOE/PJTF4MPQF Including the basic photons, neutrinos, part of their daily experience. Anderson’s and cosmic rays, we can count about a inventiveness and spirit carry on today t"$PS%$DPVQMJOHUPUIFEFUFDUPS dozen distinct messengers from the Sun. in the lives of those who are part of this t#PUI&OFSHZBOE5JNJOHPVUQVUT We are highly unlikely to detect solar vibrant family. t0QUJPOBMJOQVUQSPUFDUJPO gravitational waves because of the mi- Thomas Wolters t&BTZUPVTF nuscule masses involved, but then again, ([email protected]) many physicists also doubted that LIGO Red Wing, Minnesota STATE-OF-THE-ART would ever succeed! A250 References 1. B. P. Abbott et al., Astrophys. J. 851, L35 How to keep a External FET (2017). FET can be cooled 2. S. E. Forbush, Phys. Rev. 70, 771 (1946). scientist’s mind Noise: <100 e- RMS (Room Temp.) 3. R. Wolf, Astron. Mitteil. Eidgenössischen Sternw. Zürich 9, 207 (1859), p. 217. n his article “Who owns a scientist’s <20 e- RMS (Cooled FET) 4. R. C. Carrington, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. mind?” (PHYSICS TODAY, July 2018, Gain-Bandwidth f >1.5 GHz 20, 13 (1859). T page 42), Douglas O’Reagan lays out all Power: 19 mW typical 5. C. J. Wu et al., Astron. Astrophys. 615, A93 I Slew rate: >475 V/μs (2018). the concerns and fears of the competitive Hugh Hudson business leaders and scientists regarding ([email protected]) the “ownership”—and loss thereof—of University of California, Berkeley knowledge that resides in and travels with University of Glasgow human beings. One might think of knowl- Glasgow, UK edge management as just another engi- Leif Svalgaard neering problem, the solution to which is ([email protected]) creating an environment for the knowl- THE INDUSTRY STANDARD Stanford University edge bearers that provides meaningful- Stanford, California ness to them.