[HeliosphereNews] Heliosphere News - May 4, 2018

[Eric J. Zirnstein]

Heliosphere News - May 4, 2018

http://heliospherenews.unh.edu/

A newsletter devoted to Heliospheric Science.

Editor: Nathan Schwadron (nschwadron at unh.edu)
Co-Editor: Mihir Desai (mdesai at swri.edu)
Co-Editor: Eric Zirnstein (ejz at princeton.edu)
Co-Editor: Merav Opher (mopher at bu.edu)
Co-Editor: Nick Pogorelov (np0002 at uah.edu)

Web site editor: Ken Fairchild (Ken.Fairchild at unh.edu)

If you are interested in being added to the list, being removed from the list, or posting an announcement, please send information to Nathan, Mihir, Eric, Merav, or Nick. Posts are limited to ascii text. Newsletters are archived on the following website: http://heliospherenews.unh.edu/.

******************* Announcements *******************

1. MEETING: New England Space Science Consortium (NESSC) Meeting 26 at U. New Hampshire, May 4, 2018: The Evolving Solar Wind During a Decade of Historically Low Solar Activity: Preparing for Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter

2. MEETING: AOGS 15th Annual Meeting, Heliospheric Session, June 3-8, 2018, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

3. MEETING: 15th International Solar Wind Conference, June 18-22, 2018, Brussels, Belgium

4. MEETING: ASTRONUM 2018, June 25-29, 2018, Panama City Beach, Florida, USA

5. MEETING: 49nd COSPAR SCIENTIFIC ASSEMBLY, July 14-22, 2018, Pasadena, California, USA

6. MEETING: International Workshop on 'Particle Acceleration and Transport: From the Sun to Extragalactic Sources', 12-16 November 2018, Universita Della Calabria, Rende, Italy

7. Heliophysics POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER Opportunity at SwRI, San Antonio

8. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: Joint UTSA/SwRI Graduate Physics Program in San Antonio, TX

9. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: Graduate Student Opportunities at University of Alabama, Huntsville

10. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: Graduate Studies in Solar and Heliospheric Physics at the University of Arizona

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1. MEETING: New England Space Science Consortium Meeting #26

http://nessc.unh.edu/NESSC_Spring_2018_Meeting.html

Friday May 4, 2018, 10 AM – 5 PM
Room 330/332 Memorial Union, University of New Hampshire
Local Organizers: Nathan Schwadron, Ken Fairchild, Noe Lugaz, Maureen Rodgers, Chuck Smith, Sonya Smith

The Evolving Solar Wind During a Decade of Historically Low Solar Activity: Preparing for Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter

Over more than a decade, Solar and Heliospheric Scientists have observed behavior in the solar wind that is unprecedented through the space age. Solar wind densities, magnetic field strengths and pressures have been exceptionally low, while galactic cosmic ray fluxes have reached new the highest levels in more than 80 years. Solar activity has also been extremely weak during the mini solar maximum of cycle 24. Fundamental to Heliophysics is connection between solar activity, the properties of the solar wind and Heliospheric magnetic field, the nature and frequency of coronal mass ejections, the properties of solar energetic particles and cosmic rays. The physical relationships between these phenomena is a critical area in Heliophysics with wide-reaching implications for space weather, and for upcoming missions including Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, and the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe. 

We invite you to come to the meeting. If you should decide to come, please send an email to Maureen Rodgers (maureen.rodgers at unh.edu), and if you would like to give a talk, please send a title along with the authors and co-authors to Maureen. 

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2. MEETING: AOGS 15th Annual Meeting, Heliospheric Session, June 3-8, 2018, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

AOGS HELIOSPHERIC SESSION HONOLULU

We are soliciting abstracts for our session ST15, "Evolution and Effects of Large Solar Transients Throughout Geospace and the Heliosphere" at AOGS meeting June 3-8 2018 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

The author registration deadline is Apr 20, 2018, and the web site is http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2018/public.asp?page=home.htm

We hope to see you in Honolulu!

Dr. John Richardson (M.I.T., USA) Prof. Chi Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) Dr. Iver Cairns (University of Sydney, Australia)

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3. MEETING: 15th International Solar Wind Conference, June 18-22, 2018, Brussels, Belgium

Topics

Origin and acceleration of the solar wind close to the Sun
Solar wind evolution during its propagation in the heliosphere
Connection of CMEs and ICMEs
Suprathermal and energetic particles in the solar wind
Solar wind interaction with solar system objects and dust
Interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium
Current and future solar and heliospheric missions

Deadline for abstract submission = March 31, 2018
Author acceptance notifications = April 16, 2018

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4. MEETING: ASTRONUM 2018, June 25-29, 2018, Panama City Beach, Florida, USA

Maison de la Simulation (CEA/CNRS/UPS/UVSQ), France will organize ASTRONUM-2018 - the 14th International Conference on Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows in Panama City Beach, Florida, USA, on 25-29 June, 2018.

Conference Website:
https://www.icnsmeetings.com/conference/astronum2018/index.html

The conference will cover the following topics:

(1) Advanced numerical methods for space and astrophysical flows; (2) Large-scale fluid-based, kinetic, and hybrid simulations; (3) Turbulence and cosmic ray transport; (4) Magnetohydrodynamics (5) Software packages for modeling and analyzing plasma flows / Visualisation

with the application to

(1) Physics of the Sun-Heliosphere-Magnetosphere; (2) Interstellar medium and star formation; (3) Cosmology and galaxy formation; (4) Dynamo effect; (5) Stellar Physics.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together leading experts in applied mathematics, space physics, astrophysics, and geophysics to discuss the application of novel numerical algorithms and petascale parallelization strategies to computationally challenging problems. The conference will be structured around invited, 40-minute keynote and 25-minute regular talks, and a limited number of contributed talks, with the attempt to have no parallel sessions. The conference web site icnsmeetings.com will soon provide the information about the conference venue, registration, and means of transportation. E-mail inquiries about the meeting should be directed to Nikolai.Pogorelov at uah.edu and Edouard.Audit at cea.fr.

Program Committee: Tahar Amari (CNRS Ecole Polytechnique), Edouard Audit (CEA, Maison de la Simulation, co-chair), Amitava Bhattacharjee (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Phillip Colella (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Anthony Mezzacappa (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Ewald Mueller (Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, Garching), Nikolai Pogorelov (University of Alabama in Huntsville, chair), Kazunari Shibata (Kyoto University), James Stone (Princeton University), Jon Linker (Predictive Science Inc.), and Gary P. Zank (University of Alabama in Huntsville).

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5. MEETING: 49nd COSPAR SCIENTIFIC ASSEMBLY, July 14-22, 2018, Pasadena, California, USA

Heliospheric sessions:

A. Scientific Commission D

Overview Talks

Energetic Particles in the Heliosphere and in the Interstellar Medium: Acceleration, Anisotropy and Anomalous Transport

Large-Scale Heliospheric Structure: Theory, Modelling, and Data

Acceleration and Transport of Energetic Particles in the Heliosphere and beyond: from Pickup Ions to Cosmic Rays

Coordinated Observations and Modeling of Accelerated Particles at the Sun and in the Inner Heliosphere

Cool Material in the Hot Solar Corona (Prominences & Coronal Rain) and Non-solar Analogs

Solar Transients: From Solar Origin to Earth Impact and the Outer Heliosphere

Space Climate

Highlights of Magnetospheric Plasma Physics

Cross-Scale Coupling and Multipoint Observations in the Magnetosphere

Role of Nonthermal Distributions in Wave Generation, Particle Heating and Acceleration in Space Plasmas

Plasma Transport and Heating Across Boundary Layers

Particle Acceleration and Loss in the Earth and Planetary Magnetospheres

Magnetotail Dynamics and Substorms during Storm and Non-storm Time

Panels and Special Events

Issues in Capacity Building and Education for Space Sciences

Near-term Exploration of the Interstellar Medium

Development of Physics-based, Empirical, and Data Assimilative Models of the Radiation Environment

Metrics and Validation Needs for Space Weather Models and Services

Solar System Space Weather

>From Ionospheric Indices towards Standardised Activity Scales for Space Weather Services

Interoperability of Space Weather Data Models, Data Holdings and Data Access Tools

Space Weather Initiatives and Coordinated International Efforts to implement COSPAR-ILWS Roadmap Recommendations

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6. MEETING: International Workshop on 'Particle Acceleration and Transport: From the Sun to Extragalactic Sources', 12-16 November 2018, Universita Della Calabria, Rende, Italy

The University of Calabria will host the international workshop on 'Particle acceleration and transport: from the Sun to extragalactic sources' on 2018 November 12-16 (http://astroplasmas.unical.it/workshop2018/)

Scientific rationale:

The workshop aims at presenting recent research on the longstanding problems of particle acceleration and transport in different astrophysical environments, such as the Sun, the heliosphere, galactic sources, and extragalactic sources. The purpose is to bring together experts in the fields of cosmic ray physics, plasma turbulence, acceleration processes, and particle transport, in order to stimulate cross-fertilization and to exchange scientific information among different areas. Indeed, the basic theoretical framework adopted to describe particle acceleration and transport is common to all those fields but the properties of the environments change noticeably. In addition, in-situ and remote observations often question the validity of the standard theories and prompt for further investigations to be interpreted. The availability of large datasets from new instrumentations and recent theoretical and numerical studies give the opportunity to advance the models and possibly to answer some of the basic unresolved issues. Exchange of ideas among the various fields would certainly speed up this process. 

We strongly encourage to present to the different communities recent, pioneering observations, theories, and models that try to explain and describe processes of particle acceleration and transport. We try to bring together scientists who would like to understand what is happening beyond their field of specialty.

In order to promote an efficient exchange of ideas among different fields, each research area (solar, heliospheric, galactic, and extragalactic physics) will be introduced by a 40 minutes broad review talk. The majority of the talks will be upon invitation (30 minutes each), and at the end of each day a time slot of about 45 minutes will be dedicated to open discussions on the daily sessions led by a couple of scientists.

Contributed talks and poster presentations will be organized.

Main Topics:

-Observations of energetic particles in the solar, heliospheric, galactic and extragalactic environments

-Properties of cosmic ray transport and acceleration from in-situ and remote observations

-Solar flares, Crab flares, flaring phenomena in astrophysics

-Shock acceleration: problems and advances

-Particle acceleration in magnetic reconnection, including the relativistic regimes

-Particle acceleration in accretion flows and relativistic jets

-Transport and acceleration in non-linear regimes

-Magnetic turbulence in astrophysical plasmas: properties from large to small scales and effects on particle transport

-Theoretical models and numerical simulations of particle transport and acceleration

SOC:

Silvia Perri (Chair, Universit? della Calabria, Rende, Italy)

Elena Amato (co-chair, INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Italy)

Gianfranco Brunetti (IRA-INAF, Bologna, Italy)

Andrey Bikov (Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia)

Silvia Dalla (University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK)

Horst Fichtner (Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum, Germany)

Natasha Jeffrey (University of Glasgow, UK)

William H. Matthaeus (University of Delaware, USA)

Reinout J. van Weeren (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

Gaetano Zimbardo (Universit? della Calabria, Rende, Italy)

Contact: workshopunical2018 at gmail.com

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7. Heliophysics POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER Opportunity at SwRI, San Antonio.

The Space Research Department at SwRI, San Antonio is seeking applications for a postdoctoral researcher to carry out original research addressing the origin and acceleration of energetic particles in the interplanetary medium. The candidate will analyze suprathermal and energetic particle, as well as magnetic field and solar wind plasma data from Wind, ACE, and STEREO, and the upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission. The candidate is also expected to support the development and calibration of suprathermal and energetic particle instruments to be used in upcoming heliophysics missions, publish results in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and present results at scientific meetings, workshops, and conferences. The research will involve interactions with Institute Staff engaged in a broad range of observational, computational, and theoretical research in the physics of the solar wind and suprathermal and energetic particles. The candidate should have a PhD degree in Space Physics or Plasma Physics, and have graduate-level experience in the analysis and interpretation of solar wind, magnetic field, and suprathermal particle datasets. The candidate must have at least a 3.0 GPA, and demonstrate the ability to program and utilize data analysis software tools such as IDL, C, or MATLAB.

To apply for this position go to
https://resapp.swri.org/ResApp/Job_Search_Results.aspx?DETAIL=15-01272.
For more information about SwRI visit
https://www.swri.org/technical-divisions/space-science-engineering

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8. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: Joint UTSA/SwRI Graduate Physics Program in San Antonio, TX

Since 2004, a physics graduate program has been offered in partnership between the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). UTSA is the second largest component university of The University of Texas System, with an enrollment of more than 28,000 students. SwRI's Space Science and Engineering Division is a leader in space physics and planetary science research with major involvement in numerous NASA missions. The participation by SwRI offers students a chance to be involved in many of the most exciting ongoing NASA missions (Juno, MMS, LRO, Van Allen Probes, New Horizons, TWINS, IBEX) and future missions (e.g., Europa Clipper, JUICE, Bepi Columbo, Solar Probe).

UTSA/SwRI graduate students can engage in data analysis and instrument design & calibration, and even lead their own projects. Some past or current projects include (for example): analysis of Cassini observations of Enceladus' water vapor plume, design of a new ion mass spectrometer, interpretation of the first New Horizons measurements from Pluto, and investigation of reconnection in Earth's magnetosphere. During one year, the students in our laboratory class got to perform the calibration on one of the IBEX instruments now flying and obtaining phenomenal new observations of the interstellar boundary.

Our areas of space physics include: Solar & Heliospheric physics, Planetary Science, Magnetospheric physics, Space Science instrumentation, Astrophysics.
Our website is http://www.utsa.edu/physics/, with the joint program details at http://grad.space.swri.edu.

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9. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: Graduate Student Opportunities at the University of Alabama, Huntsville

The Department of Space Science at The University of Alabama in Huntsville is accepting applications to its M.S. and Ph.D. programs for the Fall 2018 semester. We are a graduate-only, student and research focused department that aims to produce proficient and self-reliant scientists through our M.S. and Ph.D. programs. Students have the opportunity to not only work with our world-renowned faculty, but also with adjunct faculty from the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research and NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center. Scientists from both centers share office space on the UAH campus with faculty from the department. Our research projects cover topics including: the Sun, solar atmosphere, inner heliosphere and space weather, the solar wind and its interaction with the interstellar medium, solar energetic particles and cosmic rays, high energy astrophysics including gamma ray bursts and gravitational waves. Our students graduate with a broad range of professional scientific skills including: analytic methods for solving physics problems, computational physics, data analysis, presentation of scientific ideas in both written and oral formats. UAH is an anchor tenant of the second largest research park in the country, in a city with a rich history of space science that dates back to Wernher von Braun and the birth of the US space program. Contact person is Dr. Jacob Heerikhuisen, e-mail: jh0004 at uah.edu.

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10. GRAD OPPORTUNITY: Graduate Studies in Solar and Heliospheric Physics at the University of Arizona

The Department of Planetary Sciences, and Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, at the University of Arizona seeks prospective graduate students interested in pursuing research in heliophysics and space physics. Successful candidates will (nominally) enter the program in the fall 2018 semester. The deadline for application is December 8, 2017; prospective students should apply at https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/graduate/admission. Research assistantships in solar and heliospheric physics are available.

The Solar and Heliospheric research group (https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/research/heliophysics), consists of eight faculty and researchers, whose broad research interests include: cosmic ray acceleration and transport in the solar system, the nature of the heliosphere, the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field, space weather and the space radiation environment, and fundamental topics in space plasma physics and astrophysics. We are involved in existing NASA spacecraft missions, including Voyager and the Advanced Composition Explorer, and future NASA missions such as the Parker Solar Probe - a mission to "touch" the Sun - launching next summer.

Students admitted to our program will take courses covering broad aspects of planetary sciences, including physics, chemistry, and geology of the solar system, in addition to research in solar and heliospheric physics. Further details can be found at https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/graduate

Questions about the program, application process, research projects, or other general questions, should be directed to either Prof. Joe Giacalone (giacalon at lpl.arizona.edulpl.arizona.edu>) or Prof. Kristopher Klein (kgklein at lpl.arizona.edu).